Nanosystem Delivers Senescence Activators and Immunomodulators to Combat Liver Cancer.

Abstract

CD47 blockade has emerged as a promising immunotherapy against liver cancer. However, the optimization of its antitumor effectiveness using efficient drug delivery systems or combinations of therapeutic agents remains largely incomplete. Here, patients with liver cancer co-expressing CD47 and CDC7 (cell division cycle 7, a negative senescence-related gene) are found to have the worst prognosis. Moreover, CD47 is highly expressed, and senescence is inhibited after the development of chemoresistance, suggesting that combination therapy targeting CD47 and CDC7 to inhibit CD47 and induce senescence may be a promising strategy for liver cancer. The efficacy of intravenously administered CDC7 and CD47 inhibitors is limited by low uptake and short circulation times. Here, inhibitors are coloaded into a dual-targeted nanosystem. The sequential release of the inhibitors from the nanosystem under acidic conditions first induces cellular senescence and then promotes immune responses. In an in situ liver cancer mouse model and a chemotherapy-resistant mouse model, the nanosystem effectively inhibited tumor growth by 90.33% and 85.15%, respectively. Overall, the nanosystem in this work achieved the sequential release of CDC7 and CD47 inhibitors in situ to trigger senescence and induce immunotherapy, effectively combating liver cancer and overcoming chemoresistance.