Cancer cell membrane-camouflaged curcumin nanoparticles trigger ferroptosis for accurate gastric cancer therapy

Curcumin (CUR) is a hydrophobic polyphenol with considerable antitumor efficiency, but its clinical application is limited because of its poor solubility and low stability in aqueous solution and lack of targeting in vivo. Herein, we fabricated a tumor-targeting drug delivery system by loading CUR and cloaking homologous cancer cell membrane (CM) onto mesoporous silica NPs (MSN-CUR@CM). Characterization analysis showed that MSN-CUR@CM with a size of approximately 70 nm showed high water solubility and biocompatibility. Besides, MSN-CUR@CM exhibited tumor-targeting and excellent anti-gastric cancer efficiency both in vitro and in vivo owing to the cellular self-recognition of CM. In the established xenograft tumor nude mouse model, it was still significantly drug accumulated at the tumor site 72 h post administration. In addition, the mean tumor volume and weight of the MSN-CUR@CM group were was 3.97 and 7.47 times smaller than those of the CUR group. Ferroptosis, a type of non-apoptotic regulated cell death accompanied by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation, was triggered by MSN-CUR@CM. Further analysis demonstrated that MSN-CUR@CUR upregulated heme oxygenase (HO-1) levels whereas it downregulated the expression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) in SGC7901 cells in vitro, indicating that the canonical and noncanonical ferroptosis pathways were regulated by MSN-CUR@CM. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that MSN-CUR@CM with high water solubility, biocompatibility, and tumor-targeting properties inhibited gastric cancer both in vitro and in vivo by triggering ferroptosis and provided an admirable cancer therapy efficacy.