Developing a Novel Gold(III) Agent to Treat Glioma Based on the Unique Properties of Apoferritin Nanoparticles: Inducing Lethal Autophagy and Apoptosis

Effective
delivery of anticancer agents across the blood–brain
barrier (BBB) required innovative strategies to achieve glioma regression.
To resolve this problem, we proposed to develop a metal agent that
target and treat glioma based on the unique property of apoferritin
(AFt) nanoparticles (NPs). Thus, we synthesized a series of Au­(III)
3-(4-metyl piperidine)­thiosemicarbazides compounds and analyzed their
structure–activity relationships, obtaining a Au agent (C6)
with remarkable cytotoxicity in glioma. Moreover, we confirmed that
C6 kills glioma cells by inducing lethal autophagy and apoptosis.
Importantly, our results revealed that the successfully constructed
apoferritin-C6 NPs (AFt-C6 NPs) can effectively cross the BBB, inhibit
glioma growth, and selectively accumulate in tumors.