Yu Jingmou, Xie Xin, Xu Xiaoyuan, Zhang Lei, Zhou Xueyun, Yu Huan, Wu Ping, Wang Ting, Che Xiangxin, Hu Zhihong
College of Basic Medical Science, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang 332000, People's Republic of China.
J Mater Chem B. 2014 Apr 21;2(15):2114-2126. doi: 10.1039/c3tb21539c. Epub 2014 Mar 5.
Chemotherapy is a major therapeutic approach for cancer patients. The action sites of cancer drugs are intracellular compartments including cytoplasm or nucleus. However, targeting drug delivery into the nucleus of specific tumor cells remains a challenging task. Herein, we developed dual-decorated polymeric micelles with folic acid (FA) and a nuclear localization signal (NLS) for specific tumor-targeted drug delivery. Cholesterol-modified glycol chitosan (CHGC) was synthesized. NLS and FA conjugated CHGC (NFCHGC) micelles were constructed. Doxorubicin (DOX) was chosen as a model anticancer drug and coumarin 6 (C6) was used as a hydrophobic fluorescence probe. The drug-loaded polymeric micelles were prepared and characterized. C6-loaded NFCHGC (C6/NFCHGC) showed efficient intracellular trafficking including endosomal/lysosomal escape and nucleus transportation in folate receptor (FR)-positive KB cells investigated by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). DOX-loaded NFCHGC (DOX/NFCHGC) exhibited stronger cytotoxicity against KB cells than other DOX formulations. Furthermore, blank polymeric micelles displayed low toxicity and good biocompatibility in vivo. DOX/NFCHGC micelles had the strongest anti-tumor efficacy against KB tumor xenograft models in vivo. These findings demonstrated that NFCHGC micelles were deemed as a potential drug nanocarrier for cancer therapy, especially used in FR-positive tumor cells and nucleus-targeting delivery.
化疗是癌症患者的主要治疗方法。抗癌药物的作用位点是细胞内区室,包括细胞质或细胞核。然而,将药物靶向递送至特定肿瘤细胞的细胞核仍然是一项具有挑战性的任务。在此,我们开发了具有叶酸(FA)和核定位信号(NLS)的双重修饰聚合物胶束,用于特定肿瘤靶向药物递送。合成了胆固醇修饰的壳聚糖二醇(CHGC)。构建了NLS和FA共轭的CHGC(NFCHGC)胶束。选择阿霉素(DOX)作为模型抗癌药物,香豆素6(C6)用作疏水性荧光探针。制备并表征了载药聚合物胶束。通过共聚焦激光扫描显微镜(CLSM)研究,负载C6的NFCHGC(C6/NFCHGC)在叶酸受体(FR)阳性的KB细胞中显示出有效的细胞内转运,包括内体/溶酶体逃逸和细胞核运输。负载DOX的NFCHGC(DOX/NFCHGC)对KB细胞的细胞毒性比其他DOX制剂更强。此外,空白聚合物胶束在体内显示出低毒性和良好的生物相容性。DOX/NFCHGC胶束在体内对KB肿瘤异种移植模型具有最强的抗肿瘤功效。这些发现表明,NFCHGC胶束被认为是一种潜在的癌症治疗药物纳米载体,尤其适用于FR阳性肿瘤细胞和细胞核靶向递送。