Virus-Based Nanoreactor with Laccase Activity for Prodrug Activation

Nanotechnology is a valuable tool for the design of new strategies to improve chemotherapy treatments. Most chemotherapy drugs should be activated by the enzymatic transformation of prodrugs to active drugs. Enzymatic nanoreactors with biomedical potential to improve cancer treatment have several advantages. They protect the enzyme cargo and could be specifically targeted to the tumor cells. The potential of a redox enzyme, Coriolopsis gallica laccase as a prodrug activator, was studied. This enzyme was confined into virus-like particles (VLPs) to generate enzymatic nanoreactors with laccase activity. This work demonstrates the formation of catalytic nanoparticles based on the encapsulation of C. gallica laccase into brome mosaic virus (BMV) virus-like particles, which could act as a nanocatalyst in the activation of prodrugs. Catalytically active VLPs were obtained, which could transform procarbazine and doxorubicin, among other chemotherapeutic prodrugs. The product analysis from the chemotherapeutic prodrug, procarbazine, showed the presence of the active and functional drugs, evidencing that the enzymatic nanoreactors containing laccase activity have the potential as a prodrug activator within the cell, enhancing the therapeutic effect of the prodrugs.