Bioresponsive Polyphenol-Based Nanoparticles as Thrombolytic Drug Carriers

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 3740 - 3751
• Main Authors: Yu, Haitao, Palazzolo, Jason S, Zhou, Jiajing, Hu, Yingjie, Niego, Be’eri, Pan, Shuaijun, Ju, Yi, Wang, Ting-Yi, Lin, Zhixing, Hagemeyer, Christoph E, Caruso, Frank
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 26.01.2022
• Subjects: Animals; Biocompatible Materials - chemistry; Biological and Medical Applications of Materials and Interfaces; Cell Line; Drug Carriers - chemistry; Drug Delivery Systems; Fibrinolytic Agents - chemistry; Fibrinolytic Agents - pharmacology; Humans; Materials Testing; Mice; Nanoparticles - chemistry; Polyphenols - chemistry; Temperature; Thrombolytic Therapy; Thrombosis - drug therapy; Tissue Plasminogen Activator - chemistry; Tissue Plasminogen Activator - pharmacology; plasminogen activators; thrombin-cleavable peptide; polyphenol; thrombolytic nanoparticles; urokinase
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c19820

Thrombolytic (clot-busting) therapies with plasminogen activators (PAs) are first-line treatments against acute thrombosis and ischemic stroke. However, limitations such as narrow therapeutic windows, low success rates, and bleeding complications hinder their clinical use. Drug-loaded polyphenol-based nanoparticles (NPs) could address these shortfalls by delivering a more targeted and safer thrombolysis, coupled with advantages such as improved biocompatibility and higher stability in vivo. Herein, a template-mediated polyphenol-based supramolecular assembly strategy is used to prepare nanocarriers of thrombolytic drugs. A thrombin-dependent drug release mechanism is integrated using tannic acid (TA) to cross-link urokinase-type PA (uPA) and a thrombin-cleavable peptide on a sacrificial mesoporous silica template via noncovalent interactions. Following drug loading and template removal, the resulting NPs retain active uPA and demonstrate enhanced plasminogen activation in the presence of thrombin (1.14-fold; p < 0.05). Additionally, they display lower association with macrophage (RAW 264.7) and monocytic (THP-1) cell lines (43 and 7% reduction, respectively), reduced hepatic accumulation, and delayed blood clearance in vivo (90% clearance at 60 min vs 5 min) compared with the template-containing NPs. Our thrombin-responsive, polyphenol-based NPs represent a promising platform for advanced drug delivery applications, with potential to improve thrombolytic therapies.