Taxol(®) remained as the mainstay therapeutic agent in the treatment of ovarian cancer, however recurrence rate is still high. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a subset of cells in the bulk of tumors and play a central role in inducing drug resistance and recurrence. Furthermore, cancer metabolism has been an area under intensive investigation, since accumulating evidence has shown that CSCs and cancer metabolism are closely linked, an effect named as metabolic reprogramming. In this work, we aimed to investigate the impacts of a novel liposome-encapsulated paclitaxel (Nano-Taxol) on the stemness phenotype and metabolic reprogramming. A paclitaxel-resistant cell line (TR) was established at first. Tumor growth was induced in the mice peritoneal cavity by inoculation of TR cells. A 2x2 factorial experiment was designed to test the therapeutic efficacy in which factor 1 represented the comparison of drugs (Taxol(®) versus Nano-Taxol), while factor 2 represented the delivery route (intravenous versus intraperitoneal delivery). In this work, we found that intraperitoneal delivery of Nano-Taxol redirects metabolic reprogramming, from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation, and effectively suppresses cancer stem cells. Also, intraperitoneal delivery of Nano-Taxol led to a significantly better control of tumor growth compared with intravenous delivery of Taxol(®) (current standard treatment). This translational research may serve as a novel pathway for the drug development of nanomedicine. In the future, this treatment modality may be extended to treat several relevant cancers that have been proved to be suitable for the loco-regional delivery of therapeutic agents, including colon cancer, gastric cancer, and pancreatic cancer.
Keywords: Cancer stem cell; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; liposome; metabolic reprogramming; p53; stemness.