2. Academic Validation
  3. A nanotherapeutic strategy that engages cytotoxic and immunosuppressive activities for the treatment of cancer recurrence following organ transplantation

A nanotherapeutic strategy that engages cytotoxic and immunosuppressive activities for the treatment of cancer recurrence following organ transplantation

  • EBioMedicine. 2023 May 9;92:104594. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2023.104594.
Zhentao Yang 1,  Haiyang Xie 2,  Jianqin Wan 1,  Yuchen Wang 1,  Liang Zhang 1,  Ke Zhou 1,  Hong Tang 1,  Wentao Zhao 1,  Hangxiang Wang 1,  Penghong Song 3,  Shusen Zheng 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China.
  • 2 Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China; NHC Key Laboratory of Combined Multi-organ Transplantation, Hangzhou 310003, China; Key Laboratory of the Diagnosis and Treatment of Organ Transplantation, Research Unit of Collaborative Diagnosis and Treatment for Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2019RU019), Hangzhou 310003, China; Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation, Research Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hepatobiliary Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China. Electronic address: xiehy@zju.edu.cn.
  • 3 Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China; NHC Key Laboratory of Combined Multi-organ Transplantation, Hangzhou 310003, China; Key Laboratory of the Diagnosis and Treatment of Organ Transplantation, Research Unit of Collaborative Diagnosis and Treatment for Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2019RU019), Hangzhou 310003, China; Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation, Research Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hepatobiliary Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China. Electronic address: songpenghong@zju.edu.cn.
  • 4 Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China; NHC Key Laboratory of Combined Multi-organ Transplantation, Hangzhou 310003, China; Key Laboratory of the Diagnosis and Treatment of Organ Transplantation, Research Unit of Collaborative Diagnosis and Treatment for Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2019RU019), Hangzhou 310003, China; Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation, Research Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hepatobiliary Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China; State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China. Electronic address: shusenzheng@zju.edu.cn.
PMID: 37167784 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2023.104594
Abstract

Background: Long-term treatment with immunosuppressants is necessary to attenuate allograft rejection following organ transplantation (OT). Consequently, the overall survival of OT recipients with malignancies has been substantially compromised by tumour recurrence. Rapamycin (RAPA) is a clinically approved immunosuppressive agent with antitumour activity that is considered beneficial in preventing posttransplant tumour recurrence. However, the clinical outcome of RAPA is impeded by acquired drug resistance and its poor oral bioavailability.

Methods: A nanotherapeutic strategy was developed by supramolecular assembly of RAPA into a polymer cytotoxic 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN38) prodrug nanoparticle (termed SRNP) for simultaneous codelivery of cytotoxic/immunosuppressive agents. Cell-based experiments were used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of SRNPs against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The therapeutic efficacy of SRNPs was evaluated in multiple preclinical models including an orthotopic HCC mouse model, an orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) rat model and a clinically relevant cancer-transplant model to examine its antitumour and immunosuppressive activity.

Findings: The combination of SN38 with RAPA resulted in synergetic effects against HCC cells and alleviated RAPA resistance by abrogating Akt/mTOR signalling activation. SRNPs exhibited potent antitumour efficiency in the orthotopic HCC model while substantially prolonging the survival of allografts in the OLT model. In the cancer-transplant model that simultaneously bears tumour xenografts and skin allografts, SRNPs not only effectively inhibited tumour growth but also attenuated allograft damage.

Interpretation: The nanotherapy presented here had enhanced efficacy against tumours and maintained satisfactory immunosuppressive activity and thus has great potential to improve the survival outcomes of patients with a high risk of tumour recurrence following OT.

Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32171368 and 31671019), the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LZ21H180001), the Zhejiang Province Preeminence Youth Fund (LR19H160002), and the Jinan Provincial Laboratory Research Project of Microecological Biomedicine (JNL-2022039c).

Keywords

Hepatocellular carcinoma; Nanotherapeutic strategy; Organ transplantation; Tumour recurrence.

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