Reducing lipid uptake of macrophages and stimulating cholesterol efflux are two necessary steps for atherosclerotic plaque regression. In this study, a compound of curcumin nicotinate (CN) was synthesized from nicotinic acid which can raise raising high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and curcumin which can lower lipid. However, the shortcomings of CN, such as poor water solubility and low bioavailability, limit its clinical application. In this article, a CN loaded biomimetic nanosystem was constructed by using Prussian blue nanoparticles (PB NPs) to improve its solubility, thereby changing its administration route. In addition, hyaluronic acid (HA) modification on the biomimetic PB NPs was adopted to prolong circulation time and improve the accumulation of drugs in the plaque region. Mechanism studies have shown that the constructed nanosystem could exert anti-AS effects through the pathway of Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9(PCSK9) /Low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R), ATP Binding Cassette Transporter A1(ABCA1) /Caveolin-1 /Liver X Receptor (LXR). These findings indicated that the designed nano-platform is expected to be used for prevention and targeted therapy of atherosclerosis.
Yan Shen,Yun Xia,Ershuang Yang,Zixuan Ye,Yuan Ding,Jiasheng Tu,Yong Zhang,Pengcheng Xu
Presently, a combination of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, thermotherapy, and other treatments has become a hot topic of research for the treatment of cancer, especially lung cancer. In this study, novel hollow gold nanoparticles (HGNPs) were used as drug carriers, and in order to improve the targeting ability of HGNPs to a lung tumor site, polyoxyethylene sorbitol oleate (PSO) was chosen here as a target ligand since it can be specifically recognized by the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor which is usually over expressed on A549 lung cancer cells. In this way, a PSO-modified doxorubicin-loaded HGNP drug delivery system (PSO-HGNPs-DOX) was constructed and its physicochemical properties, photothermal conversion ability, and drug release of PSO-HGNPs-DOX was investigated. Further, the effects of triple combination therapy, the intracellular uptake, and the ability to escape macrophage phagocytosis of PSO-HGNPs-DOX were also studied using A549 cells in vitro. In addition, an in vivo mouse model was also used to study the targeting of PSO-HGNPs-DOX to lung cancer. PSO-HGNPs-DOX demonstrated a good triple therapeutic effect for lung cancer (A549 cell viability was only 10% at 500 μM) by LDL receptor mediated endocytosis and was able to escape macrophage phagocytosis to enhance its accumulation at the target site. Therefore, PSO-HGNPs-DOX is a novel, safe, promising, and targeted drug carrier designed for triple combination lung cancer therapy which should be further studied for such applications.
A novel amphiphilic guanidyl-functionalized stigmasterol hydrochloride (GFSH) was designed and synthesized as bile salt sequestrants for cholesterol reduction. GFSH exhibited a considerable in vitro capacity for bile salt binding in gastrointestinal digestion and alleviated hypercholesterolemia in vivo. GFSH spontaneously interacted with sodium cholate via synergistic electrostatic, hydrophobic, and hydrogen-bonding interactions. The effects of GFSH on serum cholesterol reduction in mice fed a high-fat–high-cholesterol diet were explored by measuring the expression of key transcription factors related to bile acid metabolism. GFSH produced a dose-dependent reduction in weight gain, hepatic fat accumulation, and fecal and blood markers. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blot analyses demonstrated GFSH-induced expression of hepatic CYP7A, LXRα, and LDL-R. GFSH exerts the cholesterol-lowering activity by inducing the bile acid metabolism.