Redox- and light-responsive alginate nanoparticles as effective drug carriers for combinational anticancer therapy.
Chuangnian ZhangGaona ShiJu ZhangJinfeng NiuPingsheng HuangZhihong WangYanming WangWeiwei WangChen LiDeling KongPublished in: Nanoscale (2018)
Nanoparticles have been extensively explored as effective means to deliver chemotherapeutic agents or photosensitizers for chemotherapy or photodynamic therapy (PDT) against cancer. In the present work, pheophorbide A (PheoA), a hydrophobic photosensitizer, was conjugated via a redox-sensitive disulfide linkage to alginate (PheoA-ALG). Anticancer agent, doxorubicin (DOX), was also loaded within the PheoA-ALG nanoparticles (DOX/PheoA-ALG NPs) and used as drug carriers for combinational antitumor treatment. The DOX/PheoA-ALG NPs were spherical in shape with a uniform diameter of approximately 210 nm. Redox-responsive drug releasing properties were shown by the DOX/PheoA-ALG NPs, with an accelerated amount of DOX and PheoA release observed in the presence of a high glutathione level (10 mM). Cellular uptake results showed that DOX/PheoA-ALG NPs were readily taken up by B16 tumor cells (murine melanoma) and enhanced DOX and PheoA uptake were detectable in the DOX/PheoA-ALG NPs-treated B16 cells in comparison to carrier free drugs. DOX/PheoA-ALG NPs also elicited intracellular ROS generation, which leads to enhanced toxicity in B16 cells. In vivo studies using B16 tumor-bearing mice further demonstrated that DOX/PheoA-ALG NPs were preferentially accumulated in tumor tissues, resulting in substantial inhibition of B16 tumor growth by chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy, which is also attributable to DOX/PheoA-ALG NP-elicited increase of serum INF-λ levels. Our results demonstrate a major potential of DOX/PheoA-ALG NPs for combinational cancer therapy.
Keyphrases
- photodynamic therapy
- cancer therapy
- fluorescence imaging
- drug delivery
- stem cells
- emergency department
- hepatitis c virus
- cell death
- squamous cell carcinoma
- bone marrow
- climate change
- multidrug resistant
- type diabetes
- mesenchymal stem cells
- wound healing
- locally advanced
- adipose tissue
- adverse drug
- insulin resistance
- rectal cancer