scholarly journals Recent Progress in Mitochondria-Targeted Drug and Drug-Free Agents for Cancer Therapy

Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.T. Jeena ◽  
Sangpil Kim ◽  
Seongeon Jin ◽  
Ja-Hyoung Ryu
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Therapy ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Gene Mutations ◽  
Vital Functions ◽  
Selective Targeting ◽  
Metabolic Activities ◽  
Proteins Metabolism ◽  
Mitochondria Targeting ◽  
Drug Free

The mitochondrion is a dynamic eukaryotic organelle that controls lethal and vital functions of the cell. Being a critical center of metabolic activities and involved in many diseases, mitochondria have been attracting attention as a potential target for therapeutics, especially for cancer treatment. Structural and functional differences between healthy and cancerous mitochondria, such as membrane potential, respiratory rate, energy production pathway, and gene mutations, could be employed for the design of selective targeting systems for cancer mitochondria. A number of mitochondria-targeting compounds, including mitochondria-directed conventional drugs, mitochondrial proteins/metabolism-inhibiting agents, and mitochondria-targeted photosensitizers, have been discussed. Recently, certain drug-free approaches have been introduced as an alternative to induce selective cancer mitochondria dysfunction, such as intramitochondrial aggregation, self-assembly, and biomineralization. In this review, we discuss the recent progress in mitochondria-targeted cancer therapy from the conventional approach of drug/cytotoxic agent conjugates to advanced drug-free approaches.

scholarly journals Mitochondria-Targeted Self-Assembly of Peptide-Based Nanomaterials

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Luo ◽  
Yujuan Gao ◽  
Zhongyu Duan ◽  
Yu Yi ◽  
Hao Wang
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Cancer Therapy ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Assembly Systems ◽  
Targeted Cancer Therapy ◽  
Cancer Treatments ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Stimuli Response

Mitochondria are well known to serve as the powerhouse for cells and also the initiator for some vital signaling pathways. A variety of diseases are discovered to be associated with the abnormalities of mitochondria, including cancers. Thus, targeting mitochondria and their metabolisms are recognized to be promising for cancer therapy. In recent years, great efforts have been devoted to developing mitochondria-targeted pharmaceuticals, including small molecular drugs, peptides, proteins, and genes, with several molecular drugs and peptides enrolled in clinical trials. Along with the advances of nanotechnology, self-assembled peptide-nanomaterials that integrate the biomarker-targeting, stimuli-response, self-assembly, and therapeutic effect, have been attracted increasing interest in the fields of biotechnology and nanomedicine. Particularly, in situ mitochondria-targeted self-assembling peptides that can assemble on the surface or inside mitochondria have opened another dimension for the mitochondria-targeted cancer therapy. Here, we highlight the recent progress of mitochondria-targeted peptide-nanomaterials, especially those in situ self-assembly systems in mitochondria, and their applications in cancer treatments.

scholarly journals Chemotherapy Based on Supramolecular Chemistry: A Promising Strategy in Cancer Therapy

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahmy ◽  
Brüßler ◽  
Alawak ◽  
El-Sayed ◽  
Bakowsky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Therapy ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Targeted Delivery ◽  
Water Solubility ◽  
Chemotherapeutic Agents ◽  
Supramolecular Systems ◽  
Promising Strategy ◽  
Selective Targeting ◽  
Cancerous Cells

Chemotherapeutic agents are considered one of the strategies in treating cancer. However, their use is faced by many challenges, such as poor water solubility leading to poor bioavailability and non-selective targeting of cancerous cells leading to diminished therapeutic actions and systemic adverse effects. Many approaches were adopted to overcome these drawbacks and to achieve the targeted delivery of the chemotherapeutic agents to the cancerous cells while minimizing adverse effects. Recently, supramolecular systems such as macrocycles have gained attention in the field of cancer therapy for being able to encapsulate different anticancer drugs via either host-guest complexation or self-assembly leading to a myriad of advantages. This review highlights the most recent studies concerned with the design of such novel systems for cancer therapy.

scholarly journals Targeting Pin1 for Modulation of Cell Motility and Cancer Therapy

Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 359
Author(s):  
Hsiang-Hao Chuang ◽  
Yen-Yi Zhen ◽  
Yu-Chen Tsai ◽  
Cheng-Hao Chuang ◽  
Ming-Shyan Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Therapy ◽  
Tumor Suppressors ◽  
Protein Conformation ◽  
Genome Stability ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Multiple Roles ◽  
Cancer Development ◽  
Cancer Hallmarks ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
And Function

Peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase NIMA-interacting 1 (Pin1) specifically binds and isomerizes the phosphorylated serine/threonine-proline (pSer/Thr-Pro) motif, which leads to changes in protein conformation and function. Pin1 is widely overexpressed in cancers and plays an important role in tumorigenesis. Mounting evidence has revealed that targeting Pin1 is a potential therapeutic approach for various cancers by inhibiting cell proliferation, reducing metastasis, and maintaining genome stability. In this review, we summarize the underlying mechanisms of Pin1-mediated upregulation of oncogenes and downregulation of tumor suppressors in cancer development. Furthermore, we also discuss the multiple roles of Pin1 in cancer hallmarks and examine Pin1 as a desirable pharmaceutical target for cancer therapy. We also summarize the recent progress of Pin1-targeted small-molecule compounds for anticancer activity.

Recent Progress in Mitochondria-Targeting-Based Nanotechnology for Cancer Treatment

Nanoscale ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingbo Qin ◽  
Ningqiang Gong ◽  
Zhihuan Liao ◽  
Shouwen Zhang ◽  
Peter S. Timashev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Treatment ◽  
Targeted Delivery ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Proliferation And Apoptosis ◽  
Cancerous Cells ◽  
Mitochondria Targeting

Mitochondria play critical roles in the regulation of the proliferation and apoptosis of cancerous cells. Nanosystems for targeted delivery of cargos to mitochondria for cancer treatment have attracted increasing attention...

scholarly journals Personalized Medicine: Recent Progress in Cancer Therapy

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 242
Author(s):  
Ann Hoeben ◽  
Elbert A. J. Joosten ◽  
Marieke H. J. van den Beuken-van Everdingen
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Therapy ◽  
Personalized Medicine ◽  
Precision Medicine ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Tumor Treatment ◽  
Treatment And Prevention

Personalized medicine (PM) or precision medicine in oncology is an emerging approach for tumor treatment and prevention that takes into account inter- and intra-tumor variability in genes, tumor (immune) environment, and lifestyle and morbidities of each person diagnosed with cancer [...]

scholarly journals Template-Free Self-Assembly of Two-Dimensional Polymers into Nano/Microstructured Materials

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 3310
Author(s):  
Shengda Liu ◽  
Jiayun Xu ◽  
Xiumei Li ◽  
Tengfei Yan ◽  
Shuangjiang Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Subsequent Removal ◽  
The Past ◽  
2D Polymers ◽  
Template Free ◽  
Self Assembled ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Polymer Tubes

In the past few decades, enormous efforts have been made to synthesize covalent polymer nano/microstructured materials with specific morphologies, due to the relationship between their structures and functions. Up to now, the formation of most of these structures often requires either templates or preorganization in order to construct a specific structure before, and then the subsequent removal of previous templates to form a desired structure, on account of the lack of “self-error-correcting” properties of reversible interactions in polymers. The above processes are time-consuming and tedious. A template-free, self-assembled strategy as a “bottom-up” route to fabricate well-defined nano/microstructures remains a challenge. Herein, we introduce the recent progress in template-free, self-assembled nano/microstructures formed by covalent two-dimensional (2D) polymers, such as polymer capsules, polymer films, polymer tubes and polymer rings.

scholarly journals A Self-Assembling Amphiphilic Peptide Dendrimer-Based Drug Delivery System for Cancer Therapy

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1092
Author(s):  
Dandan Zhu ◽  
Huanle Zhang ◽  
Yuanzheng Huang ◽  
Baoping Lian ◽  
Chi Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Drug Delivery ◽  
Drug Resistance ◽  
Cancer Therapy ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Cancer Drug ◽  
Acquired Drug Resistance ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Amphiphilic Peptide ◽  
Peptide Dendrimer

Despite being a mainstay of clinical cancer treatment, chemotherapy is limited by its severe side effects and inherent or acquired drug resistance. Nanotechnology-based drug-delivery systems are widely expected to bring new hope for cancer therapy. These systems exploit the ability of nanomaterials to accumulate and deliver anticancer drugs at the tumor site via the enhanced permeability and retention effect. Here, we established a novel drug-delivery nanosystem based on amphiphilic peptide dendrimers (AmPDs) composed of a hydrophobic alkyl chain and a hydrophilic polylysine dendron with different generations (AmPD KK2 and AmPD KK2K4). These AmPDs assembled into nanoassemblies for efficient encapsulation of the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). The AmPDs/DOX nanoformulations improved the intracellular uptake and accumulation of DOX in drug-resistant breast cancer cells and increased permeation in 3D multicellular tumor spheroids in comparison with free DOX. Thus, they exerted effective anticancer activity while circumventing drug resistance in 2D and 3D breast cancer models. Interestingly, AmPD KK2 bearing a smaller peptide dendron encapsulated DOX to form more stable nanoparticles than AmPD KK2K4 bearing a larger peptide dendron, resulting in better cellular uptake, penetration, and anti-proliferative activity. This may be because AmPD KK2 maintains a better balance between hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity to achieve optimal self-assembly, thereby facilitating more stable drug encapsulation and efficient drug release. Together, our study provides a promising perspective on the design of the safe and efficient cancer drug-delivery nanosystems based on the self-assembling amphiphilic peptide dendrimer.

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