Enhanced antitumor efficacy by d-glucosamine-functionalized and paclitaxel-loaded poly(ethylene glycol)-co-poly(trimethylene carbonate) polymer nanoparticles.

The poor selectivity of chemotherapeutics for cancer treatment may lead to dose-limiting side effects that compromise clinical outcomes. To solve the problem, surface-functionalized polymer nanoparticles are regarded as promising tumor-targeting delivery system. On the basis of glucose transporter (GLUT) overexpression on cancer cells, d-glucosamine-conjugated and paclitaxel-loaded poly(ethylene glycol)-co-poly(trimethylene carbonate) copolymer nanoparticles (DGlu-NP/PTX) were developed as potential tumor-targeting drug delivery system in this study. Because of the high affinity between d-glucosamine and GLUT, DGlu-NP/PTX could target to tumor tissue through GLUT-mediated endocytosis to improve the selectivity of PTX. DGlu-NP/PTX was prepared by emulsion/solvent evaporation technique and characterized in terms of morphology, size, and zeta potential. In vitro evaluation of two-dimensional cells and three-dimensional tumor spheroids revealed that DGlu-NP/PTX was more potent than those of plain nanoparticles (NP/PTX) and Taxol. In vivo multispectral fluorescent imaging indicated that DGlu-NP had higher specificity and efficiency on subcutaneous xenografts tumor of mouse. Furthermore, DGlu-NP/PTX showed the greatest tumor growth inhibitory effect on in vivo subcutaneous xenografts model with no evident toxicity. Therefore, these results demonstrated that DGlu-NP/PTX could be used as potential vehicle for cancer treatment.