The miR let-7b-5p (a kind of microRNAs) has many pathophysiological regulation effects, including human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pathogenesis. This study investigated whether nanoparticle-mediated miR let-7b-5p could jointly enhance the therapeutic effect of sorafenib on HCC by
inhibiting the proliferation of HCC cells, inducing apoptosis, and reversing drug resistance. We evaluated the level of miR let-7b-5p in sorafenib-resistant HepG2 cells (HepG2R) and HepG2 HCC cells by qRT-PCR and analyzed the biological effects of hepatocellular carcinoma treated
with sorafenib with miR let-7b-5p, and further studied the toxicity of nanoparticles (Ab-miR-NPs) that deliver miR let-7b-5p mimics and target GPC3 on the surface of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Results showed that, in HepG2 cells, the expression level of miR let-7b-5p was significantly
higher than that in HepG2R cells. Targeted nanoparticle Ab-miR-NPs mediated the delivery of miR let-7b-5p to the HCC cytoplasm and released miRNA after being broken down, down-regulating the expression of IGF1R and inhibiting AKT/mTOR and Ras/Raf signal transmission. Ab-miR-NPs
not only enhanced the proliferation of sorafenib in cultured HepG2R cells and induced cell apoptosis efficiency, but they also improved the anti-tumor activity in the mouse models. These results indicated that GPC3 antibody-modified PLGA-PLL (polylactic acid-glycolic acetic copolymer
grafted hyper-branched polylysine) loaded miR let-7b-5p polymer nanoparticles combined with sorafenib may be a new treatment strategy for HCC resistant to sorafenib.
Min Chen,Haimei Li,Xueming Su,Runqiang Wu,Huafu Feng,Xiaohang Shi,Jintao Liang,Jiejing Chen,Guiyin Li
Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a potential hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) serum marker with good sensitivity and specificity. Herein, a label-free electrochemical aptasensor for the detection of GPC3 was developed using a reduced graphene oxide–hemin–chitosan (RGO–H–CS) nanocomposite-modified screen-printed electrode (SPE) as a biosensing platform and GPC3 aptamer as the recognition element. When GPC3 was present, the aptamer could specifically bind with the target GPC3 by specific recognition reaction and form GPC3–aptamer conjugations on the sensing surface, which could alter the electrochemical redox signal of hemin (Fe(III)/hemin(Fe(II))) in the RGO–H–CS nanocomposite recorded by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The electrochemical GPC3 aptasensor was characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Under optimal conditions, currents originating from the oxidation of hemin had a linear relationship with the concentration of GPC3 in the range of 0.01 µg mL−1 to 10.0 µg mL−1 with a detection limit of 7.9 ng mL−1 (S/N = 3). The developed aptasensor was applied to detect the GPC3 level in the human serum samples with the recovery rate of 101.04–104.9%. Moreover, the label-free aptasensor exhibited considerable anti-interfering ability, acceptable stability and good reproducibility. Therefore, this study provides a reliable and objective analysis method to achieve high screening for the early diagnosis of HCC.