| Summary: | Yuanmeng Ma,1 Ruike Li,1 Yixin Dong,1 Chaoqun You,1,2 Shenlin Huang,1 Xun Li,1 Fei Wang,1 Yu Zhang1 1College of Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu Key Laboratory for the Chemistry and Utilization of Agro-Forest Biomass, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biomass-Based Green Fuels and Chemicals, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210089, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yu Zhang Tel +86-25-85427635Fax +86-25-85418873Email yuzhang@njfu.edu.cnPurpose: The aims of this study were to test the feasibility, targeting specificity and anticancer therapeutic efficacy of CendR motif tLyP-1 functionalized at the N-terminal of ferritin for paclitaxel (PTX) delivery.Methods: A tumor homing and penetrating peptide tLyP-1 was fused to the N-terminal of human H chain ferritin (HFtn) to generate a dual-targeting nanoparticle delivery system. PTX molecules were encapsulated into the HFtn nanocage using the disassembly/assembly method by adjusting pHs. Cellular uptake was examined by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and flow cytometry. The MTT assay was used to test the cytotoxicity of various PTX-loaded NPs against MDA-MB-231 and SMMC-7721 tumor cells. The wound healing and cell migration assays were conducted to assess the inhibitory effect on cell motility and metastasis. The inhibition effect on the SMMC-7721 tumor spheroids was studied and penetration ability was evaluated by CLSM. The antitumor efficacy of PTX-loaded NPs was assessed in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer xenografted in female BALB/c nude mice.Results: Compared with HFtn-PTX, in vitro studies demonstrated that the tLyP-1-HFtn-PTX displayed enhanced intracellular delivery and better cytotoxicity and anti-invasion ability against both SMMC-7721 and MDA-MB-231 cells. The better penetrability and growth inhibitory effect on SMMC-7721 tumor spheroids were also testified. In vivo distribution and imaging demonstrated that the tLyP-1-HFtn-PTX NPs were selectively accumulated and penetrated at the tumor regions. Verified by the breast cancer cells model in BABL/c nude mice, tLyP-1-HFtn-PTX displayed higher in vivo therapeutic efficacy with lower systemic toxicity.Conclusion: Ferritin decorated with tumor-homing penetration peptide tLyP-1 at the N terminal could deliver PTX specifically inside the cell via receptor-mediated endocytosis with better efficacy. The peptide tLyP-1 which is supposed to work only at the C terminus showed enhanced tumor tissue penetration and antitumor efficacy, demonstrating that it also worked at the N-terminal of HFtn.Keywords: ferritin, tLyP-1 peptide, paclitaxel, neuropilin-1, transferrin receptor 1
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