Targeting gallbladder cancer: hyaluronan sensitizes cancer cells to chemo-therapeutics

Gallbladder cancer is the most common biliary tract malignancy and the fifth most common gastrointestinal malignancy. Chemo-resistance is the most remarkable characteristic of gallbladder cancer. The relatively dense extracellular space in tumor is the main barrier to nanotherapeutics' anticancer efficacy. Hyaluronan (HA) was shown in our previous study to significantly improve the myxoma virus distribution via promoting the MMP-9 production, which degrades collagen IV. We demonstrated that HA increased the chemo-sensitivity of gallbladder cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. The in vivo chemo-sensitization effect of HA could partially be due to the penetration-promoting effect of HA via degrading collagen IV.