Glutathione‐Scavenging Nanoparticle‐Mediated PROTACs Delivery for Targeted Protein Degradation and Amplified Antitumor Effects

• Published in: Advanced science 2023-06, Vol.10 (16), p.e2207439-n/a
• Main Authors: Liu, Hai‐Jun, Chen, Wei, Wu, Gongwei, Zhou, Jun, Liu, Chuang, Tang, Zhongmin, Huang, Xiangang, Gao, Jingjing, Xiao, Yufen, Kong, Na, Joshi, Nitin, Cao, Yihai, Abdi, Reza, Tao, Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bioavailability; Biomarkers; BRD4; Cancer; cancer therapy; Cell cycle; c‐Myc; Efficiency; glutathione scavenging; Metastasis; Nanoparticles; Nuclear Proteins - metabolism; Permeability; Physiology; Polyethylene glycol; Polymers; Proteins; Proteolysis; PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras nanoparticles; Transcription Factors - metabolism
• ISSN: 2198-3844; 2198-3844
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.202207439

PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras (PROTACs) are an emerging class of promising therapeutic modalities that selectively degrade intracellular proteins of interest by hijacking the ubiquitin‐proteasome system. However, the lack of techniques to efficiently transport these degraders to targeted cells and consequently the potential toxicity of PROTACs limit their clinical applications. Here, a strategy of nanoengineered PROTACs, that is, Nano‐PROTACs, is reported, which improves the bioavailability of PROTACs and maximizes their capacity to therapeutically degrade intracellular oncogenic proteins for tumor therapy. The Nano‐PROTACs are developed by encapsulating PROTACs in glutathione (GSH)‐responsive poly(disulfide amide) polymeric (PDSA) nanoparticles and show that ARV@PDSA Nano‐PROTAC, nanoengineered BRD4 degrader ARV‐771, improves BRD4 protein degradation and decreases the downstream oncogene c‐Myc expression. Benefiting from the GSH‐scavenging ability to amply the c‐Myc‐related ferroptosis and cell cycle arrest, this ARV@PDSA Nano‐PROTACs strategy shows superior anti‐tumor efficacy with a low dose administration and good biocompatibility in vivo. The findings reveal the potential of the Nano‐PROTACs strategy to treat a broad range of diseases by dismantling associated pathogenic proteins. Nanoengineered PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras (Nano‐PROTACs) are developed with glutathione (GSH)‐responsive polymeric nanoparticles and pioneer their applications in cancer therapy. The Nano‐PROTACs not only address the poor druggability of PROTACs but also enhance the therapeutic efficacy via an intelligent GSH‐scavenging strategy to amplify  c‐Myc‐related ferroptosis and cell cycle arrest. This GSH‐scavenging PROTAC nanotechnology would be generalized for treating different malignancies in vivo.