Unique physiopathological characteristics of tumor tissues impose obstacles to the sufficient penetration of traditional nanomedicines, resulting in undesirable drug delivery efficacy and therapeutic outcomes. Here, we constructed TRAIL-[ND-HCPT]^GAC, a synergistic hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) protein co-loaded disk-shaped nanocarrier with γ-glutamyl transpeptidase responsiveness. When the novel nanodisks extravasated into the tumor interstitium, the γ-glutamyl transpeptidase overexpressed on the tumor cell membranes cleaved the γ-glutamyl portions of the nanodisk surface to produce positively charged amino groups. As a result, the cationic nanodisks possessed stronger tumor infiltration ability through transcytosis than anionic nanodisks. HCPT and TRAIL exerted synergistic antitumor effects with better overall therapeutic efficacy. This TRAIL-[ND-HCPT]^GAC system performed significantly better than free HCPT and remarkably prolonged the survival of breast tumor-bearing mice with no significant toxicity.

Glucose-responsive closed-loop insulin delivery systems represent a promising treatment strategy for diabetes, but current systems generally cannot achieve long-term effects. In this study, we designed an erythrocyte-biomimetic glucose-responsive system (EGRS) by coupling glucose-responsive nanoparticles (GRNs) to red blood cells; these nanoparticles exhibited the dual functions of glucose-responsiveness and persistent presence in circulation. GRNs are generated by encapsulating with insulin through ion crosslinking, followed by coloading with glucose oxidase (GO_x) and catalase (CAT), a process that endows the nanoparticles with glucose-responsiveness. Simultaneously, the GRNs are coupled with red blood cells to camouflage them from the immune system, therefore, these erythrocyte-coupled GRNs can circulate in the blood for a long time. Under conditions of hyperglycemia, GOx acts on blood glucose to produce gluconic acid, which causes the rupture of GRNs and efficient release of insulin. Conversely, insulin is only released at the basic rate during hypoglycemia. Thus, EGRS can efficiently and continuously respond to hyperglycemia to maintain blood glucose levels within the normal range.

The etiology of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is complex and diverse, which could be briefly categorized to glomerular- or tubular- originated. However, the final outcomes of CKD are mainly glomerular sclerosis, endothelial dysfunction and injury, and chronic inflammation. Thus, targeted delivery of drugs to the glomeruli in order to ameliorate glomerular endothelial damage may help alleviate CKD and help enrich our knowledge. The herb tripterygium wilfordii shows therapeutic effect on kidney disease, and celastrol (CLT) is one of its active ingredients but with strong toxicity. Therefore, based on the unique structure and pathological characteristics of the glomerulus, we designed a targeted delivery system named peptides coupled CLT-phospholipid lipid nanoparticles (PC-PLNs) to efficiently deliver CLT to damaged endothelial cells and podocytes in the glomerulus for CKD treatment and research. PC-PLNs could effectively inhibit inflammation, reduce endothelial damage, alleviate CKD severity, and reduce the toxicity of CLT. We also studied the mechanism of CLT in the treatment of nephropathy and found that CLT can increase the level of NO by increasing eNOS while inhibiting the expression of VCAM-1, thus provides an anti-inflammatory effect. Therefore, our study not only offered an efficient CKD drug formulation for further development, but also provided new medical knowledge about CKD.

Melanoma is a highly aggressive cancer which often forms metastatic tumors in the lung, leading to sharply reduced patients' survival rate. Effectively treating these tumors thus could improve late stage melanoma with lung metastasis. In this study, we fabricated a Cys-Arg-Glu-Lys-Ala with N-methylated Glu (CR(NMe)EKA) decorated disk shaped nano vehicle to co-deliver tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and paclitaxel (PTX) to lung melanoma tumor sites (TRAIL-[ND- PTX]^CR(NMe)EKA). These nanodisks displayed better tumor-targeting and penetration capability than spherical nanoparticles, while the fibronectin-targeting CR(NMe)EKA motif also increased the tumor accumulation of loaded drugs. The combined usage of TRAIL and PTX both killed tumor cells and reduced local nutrition supply, leading to stronger overall anti-tumor effect. This TRAIL-[ND-PTX]^CR(NMe)EKA system performed remarkably better than free paclitaxel and also significantly elongated survival rate of melanoma lung metastasis bearing mice, without displaying significant toxicity. Hence, this designing strategy and the fabricated nanoplatform possess potential for further development.

Currently, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in males and chemotherapy is often essential for treating advanced prostate cancer. However, common chemotherapies for prostate cancer suffer from serious adverse effects due to poor drug targeting ability and tissue penetration, even with the help of conventional drug delivery systems. Here, encouraged by recent studies showing possible drug retention and tissue penetration advantages of unconventional non-spherical nanoparticles over conventional spherical nanoparticles, we design and construct a novel non-spherical nanodisk drug delivery system for treating prostate cancer. In order to enhance tumor-targeting capability, these nanodisks are further modified with targeting peptide, Cys-Arg-Glu-Lys-Ala peptide with N-methylated Glu (CR(NMe)EKA), which recognizes extracellular matrix fibronectin and its complexes specifically expressed on the walls of tumor vessels and in tumor stroma. Compared with conventional nanospheres, the nanodisks achieve much higher drug accumulation at prostate tumor sites. When loaded with paclitaxel, the CR(NMe)EKA-modified nanodisks display superior antitumor efficacy to free paclitaxel, unmodified nanodisks and nanospheres. In summary, our study provides an attractive therapeutic strategy for targeted therapy against prostate cancer with simple preparation, high efficiency and low toxicity, and supplements a theoretical support for treatments realized by different shaped nanoplatforms. Our study also offers valuable data for understanding biological effects of non-spherical nanodisks and highlights the great potential of unconventional nanoparticles in biomedical applications.