Targeting 3D Bladder Cancer Spheroids with Urease-Powered Nanomotors
Abstract
Cancer is one of the main causes of death around the world, lacking efficient clinical treatments that generally present severe side effects. In recent years, various nanosystems have been explored to specifically target tumor tissues, enhancing the efficacy of cancer treatment and minimizing the side effects. In particular, bladder cancer is the ninth most common cancer worldwide and presents a high survival rate but serious recurrence levels, demanding an improvement in the existent therapies. Here, we present urease-powered nanomotors based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles that contain both polyethylene glycol and anti-FGFR3 antibody on their outer surface to target bladder cancer cells in the form of 3D spheroids. The autonomous motion is promoted by urea, which acts as fuel and is inherently present at high concentrations in the bladder. Antibody-modified nanomotors were able to swim in both simulated and real urine, showing a substrate-dependent enhanced diffusion. The internalization efficiency of the antibody-modified nanomotors into the spheroids in the presence of urea was significantly higher compared with antibody-modified passive particles or bare nanomotors. Furthermore, targeted nanomotors resulted in a higher suppression of spheroid proliferation compared with bare nanomotors, which could arise from the local ammonia production and the therapeutic effect of anti-FGFR3. These results hold significant potential for the development of improved targeted cancer therapy and diagnostics using biocompatible nanomotors.
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Anti-FGFR3 coupled with PEG-modified mesoporous silica nanoparticles showed higher internalization efficiency for bladder cancer multicellular spheroids and induced stronger cytotoxicity.
“For example, Hortelao et al. used anti-FGFR3 coupled with PEG-modified mesoporous silica nanoparticles to show higher internalization efficiency for bladder cancer multicellular spheroids and induce stronger cytotoxicity.206”
From Smart nanoparticles for cancer therapy (2023) · cites this paper as [206]
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- Authors
- Hortelão, A. C., Carrascosa, R., Murillo-Cremaes, N., Patiño, T., & Sánchez, S.
- Affiliations
- Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (ES)
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Patiño, Tania
- Sánchez, Samuel
- Venue
- ACS Nano
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2018-12-27
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 429-439
- ISSN
- 1936-0851 (ISSN-L)
- 1936-086X
- OpenAlex
- W2908190879
- Cited by
- 287
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 12
- FWCI
- 13.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACS Nano (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Fundaci?n BBVA
- Secretar?a de Estado de Investigaci?n, Desarrollo e Innovaci?n (CTQ2015-68879-R, CTQ2015-72471-EXP)
- Generalitat de Catalunya
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Micro and Nano Robotics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery
- Keywords
- bladder cancer, tumor spheroids, mesoporous silica nanoparticles, polyethylene glycol coating, urea fuel, targeted drug delivery, ammonia synthesis, FGFR3 inhibition
- MeSH terms
- Antibodies, Urinary Bladder Neoplasms, Cells, Cultured, Humans, Motion, Polyethylene Glycols, Silicon Dioxide, Tumor Cells, Cultured, Urea, Urease, Spheroids, Cellular, Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 3, Nanoparticles
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