Journal
JOURNAL OF NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 19, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
BMC
DOI: 10.1186/s12951-021-00995-1
Keywords
Bitter melon; Extracellular vesicles; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; NLRP3; 5-Fluorouracil
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [81803088, 81870762]
- Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai [20ZR1431500]
- Shanghai Sailing Program [19YF1427500]
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Bitter melon-derived extracellular vesicles (BMEVs) demonstrated significant therapeutic efficacy against oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and reduced drug resistance. The study provides evidence for the development of PDEVs-enhanced therapy for cancer treatment.
Background Plant-derived extracellular vesicles (PDEVs) have been exploited for cancer treatment with several benefits. Bitter melon is cultivated as a vegetable and folk medicine with anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is widely used for cancer treatment. However, 5-FU-mediated NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammation activation induced the resistance of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells to 5-FU. In this study, we explored the potential of bitter melon-derived extracellular vesicles (BMEVs) for enhancing the therapeutic efficacy and reduce the resistance of OSCC to 5-FU. Results Herein, we demonstrate that bitter melon derived extracellular vesicles (BMEVs), in addition to their antitumor activity against OSCC have intrinsic anti-inflammatory functions. BMEVs induced S phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Apoptosis induction was dependent on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and JUN protein upregulation, since pretreatment with N-acetyl cysteine or catechin hydrate could prevent apoptosis and JUN accumulation, respectively. Surprisingly, BMEVs significantly downregulated NLRP3 expression, although ROS plays a central role in NLRP3 activation. We further assessed the underlying molecular mechanism and proposed that the RNAs of BMEVs, at least in part, mediate anti-inflammatory bioactivity. In our previous studies, NLRP3 activation contributed to the resistance of OSCC cells to 5-FU. Our data clearly indicate that BMEVs could exert a remarkable synergistic therapeutic effect of 5-FU against OSCC both in vitro and in vivo. Most notably, NLRP3 downregulation reduced the resistance of OSCC to 5-FU. Conclusions Together, our findings demonstrate a novel approach to enhance the therapeutic efficacy and reduce the drug resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents, which provides proof-of-concept evidence for the future development of PDEVs-enhanced therapy. Graphic Abstract
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