Enzyme-instructed self-assembly: a multistep process for potential cancer therapy

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Materials Science
• Oncology

Background:

• Current anticancer drugs rely on tight binding to molecular targets, a mechanism often leading to drug resistance.
• Drug resistance remains a significant challenge in effective cancer therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight enzyme-instructed self-assembly (EISA) as a novel multistep process for developing advanced cancer therapies.
• To demonstrate EISA's potential in overcoming limitations of current drug-receptor binding strategies.

Main Methods:

• Integration of enzymatic transformation with molecular self-assembly principles.
• Application of EISA in supramolecular hydrogelation for therapeutic delivery.
• Utilizing apoptosis as a model to illustrate EISA's mechanism.

Main Results:

• EISA leverages the inherent self-assembly features observed in biological processes like apoptosis.
• EISA enables targeting previously "undruggable" cancer targets and "untargetable" cellular features.
• EISA facilitates simultaneous interaction with multiple cancer targets.

Conclusions:

• Enzyme-instructed self-assembly presents a promising strategy for developing next-generation cancer therapeutics.
• EISA has the potential to shift the paradigm in cancer medicine by inhibiting multiple cancer hallmarks.
• EISA can be used independently or in combination with existing anticancer treatments for enhanced efficacy.