Angulin-1/LSR inhibition transiently disrupts the blood-tumor barrier to enhance doxil permeability and impair malignant glioma progression

The blood-tumor barrier (BTB) prevents effective central nervous system (CNS) drug delivery, especially in malignant gliomas. Brain endothelium predominates the BTB and connects through bicellular and tricellular tight junctions (TJ). Angulin-1/LSR, is a highly expressed endothelial tricellular TJ. Our studies explore the role of Angubindin-1, an Angulin-1/LSR binder, to disrupt tricellular TJ integrity, increase drug entry and hamper glioma progression. Using rat brain endothelial cells (RBMVEC) we tracked Angulin-1/LSR localization and expression to the membrane; binding tightest to Angubindin-1 2-8 hours post-treatment ( p < 0.05). Angubindin-1 dose-dependently reduced bicellular and tricellular TJs 1-4 hours post treatment ( p < 0.05), returning to baseline by 24 hours ( p < 0.05). In human and rat-derived glioma cells, Angubindin-1 transiently reduced Angulin-1/LSR expression between 2-8 hours ( p < 0.05), with return to baseline by 24 hours ( p < 0.001). Silenced Angulin-1/LSR expression on endothelium resulted in decreased mRNA levels of bicellular (occludin, claudin-5, ZO-1) and tricellular (tricellulin/MARVELD2, angulin-1/LSR) TJs compared to control ( p < 0.01). Angubindin-1 treatment also inhibited efflux transporter P-gp in both RBMVECs and glioma cells with high P-gp expression only. Orthotopic rat glioma models were treated with Doxil (3 mg/kg), Angubindin-1 (10 mg/kg), or combination to evaluate BTB permeability/drug accumulation, and overall survival. Combination therapy enhanced Doxil tumor accumulation by 20% ( p < 0.001), reduced tumor volume by day 14 (77.5% vs. 81.6%, p < 0.05), and significantly extended survival compared to Doxil alone (24 days vs. 18 days, p < 0.0001). These findings demonstrate the effects of tricellular tight junction inhibition on disrupting the BTB, enhancing CNS drug delivery, and improving rodent glioma survival.