Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease triggered doxorubicin-releasing DNA nanoprism for target therapy

Drug delivery and triggered release in tumor cells would realize the ultimate goal of precise cancer treatment. An APE1 triggered DNA nanoprism was designed, aiming at the applications of both drug delivery and precise triggered drug release in cancer cell. We demonstrate that the AP-Prism was successfully used as a vehicle based on the intracellular endogenous enzyme APE1 triggered for controlled drug delivery and triggered release. The box like DNA prism was self-assembled by annealing process and Doxorubicin molecules were then inserted into the GC base pairs. The reaction of AP-Prism enzymolysis and stability of DNA prism were investigated. Encouraged by the demonstration of AP-Prism as a drug delivery carrier, the cellular uptake and Dox release were with investigated in a human cervical cancer cell HeLa and human embryonic kidney cell HEK-293 T. Thanks to the overexpression level of APE1 in cancer cells, DNA prism could selectively release the trapped doxorubicin in response to APE1 activity in cancer cells, and provide a new strategy for the development of precision medicine.