pH-Responsive Polyethylene Glycol Engagers for Enhanced Brain Delivery of PEGylated Nanomedicine to Treat Glioblastoma

Jun Lun Meng, Zi Xuan Dong, Yan Ru Chen, Meng Hsuan Lin, Yu Ching Liu, Steve R. Roffler, Wen Wei Lin, Chin Yuan Chang, Shey Cherng Tzou, Tian Lu Cheng, Hsiao Chen Huang, Zhi Qin Li, Yen Cheng Lin, Yu Cheng Su*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) remains a major obstacle for effective delivery of therapeutics to treat central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Although transferrin receptor (TfR)-mediated transcytosis is widely employed for brain drug delivery, the inefficient release of therapeutic payload hinders their efficacy from crossing the BBB. Here, we developed a pH-responsive anti-polyethylene glycol (PEG) × anti-TfR bispecific antibody (pH-PEG engagerTfR) that can complex with PEGylated nanomedicine at physiological pH to trigger TfR-mediated transcytosis in the brain microvascular endothelial cells, while rapidly dissociating from PEGylated nanomedicine at acidic endosomes for efficient release of PEGylated nanomedicine to cross the BBB. The pH-PEG engagerTfR significantly increased the accumulation of PEGylated nanomedicine in the mouse brain compared to wild-type PEG engagerTfR (WT-PEG engagerTfR). pH-PEG engagerTfR-decorated PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin exhibited an enhanced antitumor effect and extended survival in a human glioblastoma (GBM) orthotopic xenograft mice model. Conditional release of PEGylated nanomedicine during BBB-related receptor-mediated transcytosis by pH-PEG engagerTfR is promising for enhanced brain drug delivery to treat CNS disorders.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)307-321
Number of pages15
JournalACS Nano
Volume19
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 14 Jan 2025

Keywords

  • PEGylated nanomedicine
  • blood-brain barrier (BBB)
  • glioblastoma (GBM)
  • pH-responsive PEG engager
  • poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)
  • transferrin receptor (TfR)

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