In colorectal cancer (CRC), cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and the fibrotic stroma generate form a dense stromal barrier that restricts the intratumoural exposure and spatial distribution of oxaliplatin. To enable local stromal remodelling of this pathological stromal compartment, we selected fibroblast activation protein (FAP) as a stromal target and co-assembled two amphiphilic conjugates, oncoFAP and retinoic acid (RA), into an FAP-directed RA nanoformulation termed LRAFAP. LRAFAP exhibited a uniform size distribution (107.1 ± 5.8 nm), remained stable for at least 7 d at 37 °C in PBS or serum-containing PBS, and showed accelerated esterase-responsive release. In a TGF-β-induced CAF-like model, LRAFAP markedly suppressed the expression of CAF activation-associated markers, reducing Fap and Acta2 mRNA levels by approximately 70% and 60%, respectively. In vivo, LRAFAP showed enhanced accumulation in CAF-enriched tumours and an increase in intratumoural oxaliplatin levels of approximately 2.5-fold relative to oxaliplatin alone. LRAFAP also reduced collagen deposition and CAF activation markers, and enhanced the antitumour efficacy of oxaliplatin while maintaining good tolerability. Collectively, these findings indicate that LRAFAP promotes local stromal remodelling and improves intratumoural oxaliplatin exposure, thereby enhancing the efficacy of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in CRC.
Wang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.