Engineering nanomedicine for glutathione depletion-augmented cancer therapy

Chem Soc Rev. 2021 May 24;50(10):6013-6041. doi: 10.1039/d0cs00718h.

Abstract

Glutathione (GSH), the main redox buffer, has long been recognized as a pivotal modulator of tumor initiation, progression and metastasis. It is also implicated in the resistance of platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Therefore, depleting intracellular GSH was considered a potent solution to combating cancer. However, reducing GSH within cancer cells alone always failed to yield desirable therapeutic effects. In this regard, the convergence of GSH-scavenging agents with therapeutic drugs has thus been pursued in clinical practice. Unfortunately, the therapeutic outcomes are still unsatisfactory due to untargeted drug delivery. Advanced nanomedicine of synergistic GSH depletion and cancer treatment has attracted tremendous interest because they promise to deliver superior therapeutic benefits while alleviating life-threatening side effects. In the past five years, the authors and others have demonstrated that numerous nanomedicines, by simultaneously delivering GSH-depleting agents and therapeutic components, boost not only traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy but also multifarious emerging treatment modalities, including photodynamic therapy, sonodynamic therapy, chemodynamic therapy, ferroptosis, and immunotherapy, to name a few, and achieved decent treatment outcomes in a large number of rodent tumor models. In this review, we summarize the most recent progress in engineering nanomedicine for GSH depletion-enhanced cancer therapies. Biosynthesis of GSH and various types of GSH-consuming strategies will be briefly introduced. The challenges and perspectives of leveraging nanomedicine for GSH consumption-augmented cancer therapies will be discussed at the end.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm
  • Ferroptosis / drug effects
  • Glutathione / biosynthesis*
  • Glutathione / chemistry
  • Glutathione / deficiency
  • Humans
  • Nanomedicine*
  • Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Neoplasms / immunology
  • Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Oxidants / chemistry
  • Photochemotherapy
  • Photosensitizing Agents / chemistry
  • Photosensitizing Agents / pharmacology
  • Photosensitizing Agents / therapeutic use
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / chemistry
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism

Substances

  • Oxidants
  • Photosensitizing Agents
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Glutathione