2. Academic Validation
  3. Biotinylated curcumin as a novel chemosensitizer enhances naphthalimide-induced autophagic cell death in breast cancer cells

Biotinylated curcumin as a novel chemosensitizer enhances naphthalimide-induced autophagic cell death in breast cancer cells

  • Eur J Med Chem. 2022 Jan 15:228:114029. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2021.114029.
Chenwen Shao 1,  Jian Wu 2,  Siqi Han 3,  Yani Liu 4,  Zhi Su 2,  Hai-Liang Zhu 4,  Hong-Ke Liu 2,  Yong Qian 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Xianlin Road 163, Nanjing, 210023, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Wenyuan Road 1, Nanjing, 210046, China.
  • 2 Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Wenyuan Road 1, Nanjing, 210046, China.
  • 3 Department of Medical Oncology, Jinling Hospital, The First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Nanjing, 210002, China.
  • 4 State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Xianlin Road 163, Nanjing, 210023, China.
  • 5 State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Xianlin Road 163, Nanjing, 210023, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Wenyuan Road 1, Nanjing, 210046, China. Electronic address: yongqian@njnu.edu.cn.
PMID: 34871840 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2021.114029
Abstract

Achieving selective release of chemical Anticancer agents and improving therapeutic efficacy has always been a hot spot in the field of Cancer research, yet how to achieve this remains a great challenge. In this work, we constructed a novel chemical Anticancer agent (named MCLOP) by introducing naphthalimide into the skeleton of methylene blue (MB). Under the stimulation by cellular hypochlorous acid (HClO) and visible light, selective release of active naphthalimide can be achieved within breast Cancer cell lines, the release process of which can be tracked visually using near-infrared fluorescence of MB (685 nm). More importantly, we developed biotinylated curcumin (Cur-Bio) as a new chemosensitizer, which significantly enhanced the ability of MCLOP to induce autophagic cell death of breast Cancer cells. This synergistic treatment strategy exhibited an excellent anti-proliferation effect on breast Cancer cells in vitro, three-dimensional (3D) cell sphere model, and mouse tumor model in vivo. This work provides a new strategy for the treatment of breast Cancer and also opens new opportunities for the efficient treatment of Cancer with curcumin-based chemosensitizer.

Keywords

Autophagic cell death; Biotinylated-curcumin; Breast cancer; Chemosensitizer; Methylene blue; Near-infrared fluorescence.

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