Chemotherapy is one of the main methods of treating breast cancer patients. But the paradox is that it often leads to the further development and metastasis of cancer. Understanding the mechanism of metastasis after chemotherapy can help develop new treatment strategies to improve the development of cancer caused by chemotherapy. In this study, Professor Chen Li of Jilin University, Associate Professor Zhang Ming, Researcher Shao Dan of South China University of Technology, and Dr. Yang Chao compared HMGB1 in TLR4-mediated epithelial to intermedium in 4T1 breast cancer cells treated with doxorubicin (Dox). The regulation effect in the process of mass transformation (EMT) was studied.



 



Key points of this article:

(1) Berberine (Ber) is a clinically approved alkaloid that has been proven to be a modulator of HMGB1-TLR4, which can promote breast cancer metastasis in vivo and in vitro. First, the experiment hypothesized that the combined use of Dox and Ber is beneficial for breast cancer chemotherapy, and designed a self-assembled nano-drug (DBNP) composed of Dox and Ber.







(2) In 4T1 tumor-bearing mice, the accumulation of DBNP@CM wrapped in 4T1 cell membrane (CM) at the tumor site was significantly higher than that of DBNP, and the blood circulation time was longer. Studies have shown that DBNP@CM can not only effectively inhibit tumor growth with lower side effects, but also can significantly inhibit tumor lung metastasis by blocking HMGB1-TLR4. In summary, this research result provides a combined strategy for inhibiting breast cancer metastasis caused by chemotherapy, and provides a new way for the development of effective and safe breast cancer chemotherapy biomimetic nano-drugs.







references

Xiao Zheng. et al. Biomimetic co-assembled nanodrug of doxorubicin and berberine suppresses chemotherapy-exacerbated breast cancer metastasis. Biomaterials. 2021

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142961221000673