The Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene (KRAS) is one
of the most
well-known proto-oncogenes, frequently mutated in pancreatic and colorectal
cancers, among others. We hypothesized that the intracellular delivery
of anti-KRAS antibodies (KRAS-Ab) with biodegradable polymeric micelles
(PM) would block the overactivation of the KRAS-associated cascades
and revert the effect of its mutation. To this end, PM-containing
KRAS-Ab (PM-KRAS) were obtained using Pluronic F127. The feasibility
of using PM for antibody encapsulation as well as the conformational
change of the polymer and its intermolecular interactions with the
antibodies was studied, for the first time, using in silico modeling. In vitro, encapsulation of KRAS-Ab allowed
their intracellular delivery in different pancreatic and colorectal
cancer cell lines. Interestingly, PM-KRAS promoted a high proliferation
impairment in regular cultures of KRAS-mutated HCT116 and MIA PaCa-2
cells, whereas the effect was neglectable in non-mutated or KRAS-independent
HCT-8 and PANC-1 cancer cells, respectively. Additionally, PM-KRAS
induced a remarkable inhibition of the colony formation ability in
low-attachment conditions in KRAS-mutated cells. In vivo, when compared
with the vehicle, the intravenous administration of PM-KRAS significantly
reduced tumor volume growth in HCT116 subcutaneous tumor-bearing mice.
Analysis of the KRAS-mediated cascade in cell cultures and tumor samples
showed that the effect of PM-KRAS was mediated by a significant reduction
of the ERK phosphorylation and a decrease in expression in the stemness-related
genes. Altogether, these results unprecedently demonstrate that the
delivery of KRAS-Ab mediated by PM can safely and effectively reduce
the tumorigenicity and the stemness properties of KRAS-dependent cells,
thus bringing up new possibilities to reach undruggable intracellular
targets.
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