Targeting Pancreatic Cancer Cells with Peptide-Functionalized Polymeric Magnetic Nanoparticles

• Main Authors: Xiuliang Zhu, Nan Lu, Ying Zhou, Shaoyan Xuan, Jiaojiao Zhang, Francesca Giampieri, Yongping Zhang, Fangfang Yang, Risheng Yu, Maurizio Battino, Zuhua Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: pancreatic cancer; CKAAKN peptide; MRI contrast agent; polymer
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/12/2988

Pancreatic cancer is a concealed and highly malignant tumor, and its early diagnosis plays an increasingly weighty role during the course of cancer treatment. In this study, we developed a polymeric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) nanoplatform for MRI contrast agents. To improve tumor-targeting delivery of MRI contrast agents, we employed a pancreatic cancer targeting CKAAKN peptide to prepare a peptide-functionalized amphiphilic hyaluronic acid−vitamin E succinate polymer (CKAAKN−HA−VES) for delivering ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO), namely, CKAAKN−HA−VES@USPIO. With the modification of the CKAAKN peptide, CKAAKN−HA−VES@USPIO could specifically internalize into CKAAKN-positive BxPC-3 cells. The CKAAKN−HA−VES@USPIO nanoparticles presented a more specific accumulation into pancreatic cancer cells than normal pancreatic cells, and an obvious decrease in signal intensity was observed in CKAAKN-positive BxPC-3 cells, compared with CKAAKN-negative HPDE6-C7 cells and non-targeting HA−VES@USPIO nanoparticles. The results demonstrated that our polymeric MRI nanoplatform could selectively internalize into CKAAKN-positive pancreatic cancer cells by the specific binding of CKAAKN peptide with pancreatic cancer cell membrane receptors, which provided a novel polymeric MRI contrast agent with high specificity for pancreatic cancer diagnosis, and makes it a very promising candidate for magnetic resonance imaging contrast enhancement.