Synergistic disruption of metabolic homeostasis through hyperbranched poly(ethylene glycol) conjugates as nanotherapeutics to constrain cancer growth

Abstract

Combination therapy is a promising approach for effective treatment of tumors through synergistically regulating pathways. However, the synergistic effect is limited, likely by uncontrolled co-delivery of different therapeutic payloads in a single nanoparticle. Herein, we developed a combination nanotherapeutic by using two amphiphilic conjugates hyperbranched poly(ethylene glycol)-pyropheophorbide-a (Ppa) (HP-P) and hyperbranched poly(ethylene glycol)-doxorubicin (DOX) (HP-D) to construct co-assembly nanoparticles (HP-PD NPs) for controllably co-loading and co-delivering Ppa and DOX. In vitro and in vivo anti-tumor studies confirmed the synergistic effect of photodynamic therapy and chemotherapy from HP-PD NPs. Metabolic variations revealed that tumor suppression was associated with disruption of metabolic homeostasis, leading to reduced protein translation. Our study uncovers the manipulation of metabolic changes in tumor cells through disruption of cellular homeostasis using HP-PD NPs and provides a new insight into rational design of synergistic nanotherapeutics for combination therapy.