The targeting of tumor metabolism as a novel strategy for cancer therapy has attracted tremendous attention. Herein, we develop a dual metabolism inhibitor, Zn-carnosine metallodrug network nanoparticles (Zn-Car MNs), which exhibits good Cu-depletion and Cu-responsive drug release, causing potent inhibition of both OXPHOS and glycolysis. Notably, Zn-Car MNs can decrease the activity of cytochrome c oxidase and the content of NAD+, so as to reduce ATP production in cancer cells. Thereby, energy deprivation, together with the depolarized mitochondrial membrane potential and increased oxidative stress, results in apoptosis of cancer cells. In result, Zn-Car MNs exerted more efficient metabolism-targeted therapy than the classic copper chelator, tetrathiomolybdate (TM), in both breast cancer (sensitive to copper depletion) and colon cancer (less sensitive to copper depletion) models. The efficacy and therapy of Zn-Car MNs suggest the possibility to overcome the drug resistance caused by metabolic reprogramming in tumors and has potential clinical relevance.
Keywords: Cu-depletion; Metabolic reprogramming; cancer therapy; glycolysis; oxidative phosphorylation.