Cell-based therapeutic approaches have been proven to be effective strategies for the treatment of acute liver injury (ALI). However, widespread application of these procedures is limited by several key issues, including rapid loss of stemness in vitro, aberrant differentiation into undesirable cell types, and low engraftment in vivo. In this study, liver epithelial progenitor cells (LEPCs) were characterized and transfected with augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR). The results revealed that in ALI mice with CCl4, the transplantation of ALR-bearing LEPCs into the liver markedly protected mice against ALI by decreasing the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), thus relieving hepatic tissue injury and attenuating inflammatory infiltration. Mechanistically, the knockdown of ALR in LEPCs activated the phosphorylation of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) at the S616 site and thereby enhanced mitochondrial fission. In contrast, the transfection of ALR into LEPCs significantly inhibited Drp1 phosphorylation, thereby favoring the maintenance of mitochondrial integrity and the preservation of adenosine triphosphate contents in LEPCs. Consequently, the ALR-bearing LEPCs transplanted into ALI mice exhibited substantially greater homing ability to the injured liver via the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis than that of LEPCs-lacking ALR. In conclusion, we demonstrated that the transplantation of ALR-transfected LEPCs protected mice against CCl4-induced ALI, thus offering immense curative potential in the clinic.
Multifunctional drug delivery systems combining two or more therapies have a wide-range of potential for high efficacy tumor treatment. Herein, we designed a novel hollow mesoporous Prussian blue nanoparticles (HMPBs)-based platform for targeted and synergetic chemo-photothermal treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The HMPBs were first loaded with the anticancer drugs daunorubicin (DNR) and cytarabine (AraC), and were subsequently coated with polyethylenimine (PEI) through electrostatic adsorption. Then, zwitterionic sulfobetaine (ZS) and CXCR4 antagonist peptide E5 were modified onto the surface of the nanoparticles via covalent bonding to fabricate a nanoplatform (denoted as HMPBs(DNR + AraC)@PEI-ZS-E5). The nanoplatform showed excellent photothermal effects, superior photothermal stability, reduced nonspecific protein adsorption, efficient targeting capability, a constant hydrodynamic diameter and good biocompatibility. Additionally, a laser-responsive drug release pattern was observed. In vitro results indicated that the nanoplatform could achieve active targeting and remarkable chemo-photothermal synergetic therapeutic effects, showcasing its great potential in AML treatment.
Bone regeneration involves a cascade of sophisticated, multiple-staged cellular and molecular events, where early-phase stem cell recruitment mediated by chemokines and late-phase osteo-differentiation induced by pro-osteogenic factors play the crucial roles. Herein, enlightened by a bone physiological and regenerative mechanism, the multilayer nanofibrous membranes (PLLA@SDF-1 α @MT01) consisting of PLLA/MT01 micro-sol electrospun nanofibers as intima and PLLA/PEG/SDF-1 α electrospun nanofibers as adventitia are fabricated through micro-sol electrospinning and manual multi-layer stacking technologies. In vitro releasing profiles show that PLLA@SDF-1 α @MT01 represents the rapid release of stromal cell-derived SDF-1 α (SDF-1 α ) in the outer layers, while with long-term sustained release of MT01 in the inner layer. Owing to interconnected porosity like the natural bone extracellular matrix and improved hydrophilia, PLLA@SDF-1 α @MT01 manifests good biocompatibility both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, PLLA@SDF-1 α @MT01 can promote bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) migration by amplifying the SDF-1 α /CXCR4 axis and stimulating BMSCs osteo-differentiation via activating the MAPK pathway in vitro. PLLA@SDF-1 α @MT01, with a programmed dual-delivery system, exhibits the synergetic promotion of bone regeneration and vascularization by emulating key characteristics of the staged bone repair in vivo. Overall, PLLA@SDF-1 α @MT01 that mimics the endogenous cascades of bone regeneration can enrich the physiology-mimetic staged regenerative strategy and represent a promising tissue-engineered scaffold for the bone defect.