Issue 14, 2021

Drug resistance-free cytotoxic nanodrugs in composites for cancer therapy

Abstract

Drug resistance is a major cause of treatment failure for small-molecule cancer chemotherapies, despite the advances in combination therapies, drug delivery systems, epigenetic drugs, and proteolysis-targeting chimeras. Herein, we report the use of a drug resistance-free cytotoxic nanodrug as an alternative to small-molecule drugs. The present nanodrugs comprise 2 nm core gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) covered completely with multivalent hydrocarbon chains to a final diameter of ∼10 nm as single drug molecules. This hydrophobic drug-platform was delivered in composite form (∼35 nm) with block-copolymer like other small-molecular drugs. Upon uptake by cells, the nanodrugs enhanced the intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species and induced apoptosis, presumably reflecting multivalent interactions between aliphatic chains and intracellular biomolecules. No resistance to our novel nanodrug was observed following multiple treatment passages and the potential for use in cancer therapy was verified in a breast cancer patient-derived xenograft mouse model. These findings provide insight into the use of nano-scaled compounds as agents that evade drug resistance to cancer therapy.

Graphical abstract: Drug resistance-free cytotoxic nanodrugs in composites for cancer therapy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Dec 2020
Accepted
25 Jan 2021
First published
22 Feb 2021

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2021,9, 3143-3152

Drug resistance-free cytotoxic nanodrugs in composites for cancer therapy

B. Jana, D. Kim, H. Choi, M. Kim, K. Kim, S. Kim, S. Jin, M. Park, K. H. Lee, C. Yoon, B. Lee, M. Kang, H. Lim, E. Park, Y. Jeong, J. Ryu and C. Kim, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2021, 9, 3143 DOI: 10.1039/D0TB02850A

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