Engineered collagen-binding serum albumin as a drug conjugate carrier for cancer therapy

Sci Adv. 2019 Aug 14;5(8):eaaw6081. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw6081. eCollection 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Serum albumin (SA) is used as a carrier to deliver cytotoxic agents to tumors via passive targeting. To further improve SA's tumor targeting capacity, we sought to develop an approach to retain SA-drug conjugates within tumors through a combination of passive and active targeting. SA was recombinantly fused with a collagen-binding domain (CBD) of von Willebrand factor to bind within the tumor stroma after extravasation due to tumor vascular permeability. Doxorubicin (Dox) was conjugated to the CBD-SA via a pH-sensitive linker. Dox-CBD-SA treatment significantly suppressed tumor growth compared to both Dox-SA and aldoxorubicin treatment in a mouse model of breast cancer. Dox-CBD-SA efficiently stimulated host antitumor immunity, resulting in the complete eradication of MC38 colon carcinoma when used in combination with anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor. Dox-CBD-SA decreased adverse events compared to aldoxorubicin. Thus, engineered CBD-SA could be a versatile and clinically relevant drug conjugate carrier protein for treatment of solid tumors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Agents / administration & dosage
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Colonic Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Doxorubicin / administration & dosage
  • Doxorubicin / analogs & derivatives
  • Doxorubicin / chemistry
  • Doxorubicin / pharmacology*
  • Drug Carriers / chemistry*
  • Female
  • Hydrazones / pharmacology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Protein Domains
  • Serum Albumin / chemistry*
  • von Willebrand Factor / chemistry

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Drug Carriers
  • Hydrazones
  • Pdcd1 protein, mouse
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor
  • Serum Albumin
  • von Willebrand Factor
  • Doxorubicin
  • DOXO-EMCH