A single functionalization step converted silica-coated gold nanorods into theranostics capable of fluorescence imaging, ultrasound imaging, and drug delivery.

Cellular quiescence is a reversible state of cell cycle arrest whereby cells are temporarily maintained in the nondividing phase. Inducing quiescence in cancer cells by targeting growth receptors is a treatment strategy to slow cell growth in certain aggressive tumors, which in turn increases the efficacy of treatments such as surgery or systemic chemotherapy. However, ligand interactions with cell receptors induce receptor-mediated endocytosis followed by proteolytic degradation, which limits the duration of cellular quiescence. Here, we report the effects of targeted covalent affibody photoconjugation to epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) on EGFRpositive MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells. First, covalently conjugating affibodies to cells increased doubling time two-fold and reduced ERK activity by 30% as compared to cells treated with an FDA-approved anti-EGFR antibody Cetuximab, which binds to EGFR noncovalently. The distribution of cells in each phase of the cell cycle was determined, and cells conjugated with the affibody demonstrated an accumulation in the G1 phase, indicative of G1 cell cycle arrest. Finally, the proliferative capacity of the cells was determined by the incorporation of 5-ethynyl-2deoxyuridine and Ki67 Elisa assay, which showed that the percentage of proliferative cells with photoconjugated affibody was half of that found for the untreated control.

The role of stromal and immune cells in transforming the tumor microenvironment is a key consideration in understanding tumor cell behavior and anticancer drug development. To better model these systems in vitro, 3D coculture tumor spheroids have been engineered using a variety of techniques including centrifugation to microwells, hanging drop, low adhesion cultures, and culture of cells in a microfluidic platform. Aside from using bioprinting, however, it has remained more challenging to direct the spatial organization of heterotypic cells in standalone 3D spheroids. To address this, we present an in vitro 3D coculture tumor model where we modulated the interactions between cancer cells and fibroblasts through DNA hybridization. When native heterotypic cells are simply mixed, the cell aggregates typically show cell sorting behavior to form phase separated structures composed of single cell types. In this work, we demonstrate that when MDA-MB-468 breast cancer and NIH/3T3 fibroblasts are directed to associate via complementary DNA, a uniform distribution of the two cell types within a single spheroid was observed. In contrast, in the absence of specific DNA interactions between the cancer cells and fibroblasts, individual clusters of the NIH/3T3 cells formed in each spheroid due to cell sorting. To better understand the effect of heterotypic cell organization on either cell−cell contacts or matrix protein production, the spheroids were further stained with anti-E-cadherin and antifibronectin antibodies. While the amounts of E-cadherin appeared to be similar between the spheroids, a significantly higher amount of fibronectin secretion was observed in the coculture spheroids with uniform mixing of two cell types. This result showed that different heterotypic cell distributions within 3D architecture can influence the ECM protein production that can again alter the properties of the tumor or tumor microenvironment. The present study thus describes the use of DNA templating to direct the organization of cells in coculture spheroids, which can provide mechanistic biological insight into how heterotypic distribution in tumor spheroids can influence tumor progression, metastasis, and drug resistance.

In this work, we demonstrate that a photo-crosslinkable conjugate of upconverting nanoparticles and cytosine deaminase can catalyze prodrug conversion specifically at tumor sites in vivo. Non-covalent association of proteins and peptides with cellular surfaces leads to receptor-mediated endocytosis and catabolic degradation. Recently, we showed that covalent attachment of proteins such as affibodies to cell receptors yields extended expression on cell surfaces with preservation of protein function. To adapt this technology for in vivo applications, conjugates were prepared from upconverting nanoparticles and fusion proteins of affibody and cytosine deaminase enzyme (UC-ACD). The affibody allows covalent photo-cross-linking to epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs) overexpressed on Caco-2 human colorectal cancer cells under near-infrared (NIR) light. Once bound, the cytosine deaminase portion of the fusion protein converts the prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) to the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). NIR covalent photoconjugation of UC-ACD to Caco-2 cells showed 4-fold higher retention than observed with cells that were not irradiated in vitro. Next, athymic mice expressing Caco-2 tumors showed 5-fold greater UC-ACD accumulation in the tumors than either conjugates without the CD enzyme or UC-ACDs in the absence of NIR excitation. With oral administration of 5-FC prodrug, tumors with photoconjugated UC-ACD yielded 2-fold slower growth than control groups, and median mouse survival increased from 28 days to 35 days. These experiments demonstrate that enzyme-decorated nanoparticles can remain viable after a single covalent photoconjugation in vivo, which can in turn localize prodrug conversion to tumor sites for multiple weeks.