AUTHOR=Wang Jingmei , Yang Wenguang , He Xinyuan , Zhang Zhang , Zheng Xiaoqiang TITLE=Assembling p53 Activating Peptide With CeO2 Nanoparticle to Construct a Metallo-Organic Supermolecule Toward the Synergistic Ferroptosis of Tumor JOURNAL=Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology VOLUME=10 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2022.929536 DOI=10.3389/fbioe.2022.929536 ISSN=2296-4185 ABSTRACT=

Inducing lipid peroxidation and subsequent ferroptosis in cancer cells provides a potential approach for anticancer therapy. However, the clinical translation of such therapeutic agents is often hampered by ferroptosis resistance and acquired drug tolerance in host cells. Emerging nanoplatform-based cascade engineering and ferroptosis sensitization by p53 provides a viable rescue strategy. Herein, a metallo-organic supramolecular (Nano-PMI@CeO2) toward p53 restoration and subsequent synergistic ferroptosis is constructed, in which the radical generating module-CeO2 nanoparticles act as the core, and p53-activator peptide (PMI)-gold precursor polymer is in situ reduced and assembled on the CeO2 surface as the shell. As expected, Nano-PMI@CeO2 effectively reactivated the p53 signaling pathway in vitro and in vivo, thereby downregulating its downstream gene GPX4. As a result, Nano-PMI@CeO2 significantly inhibited tumor progression in the lung cancer allograft model through p53 restoration and sensitized ferroptosis, while maintaining favorable biosafety. Collectively, this work develops a tumor therapeutic with dual functions of inducing ferroptosis and activating p53, demonstrating a potentially viable therapeutic paradigm for sensitizing ferroptosis via p53 activation. It also suggests that metallo-organic supramolecule holds great promise in transforming nanomedicine and treating human diseases.