Dicheva BM, ten Hagen TLM, Seynhaeve ALB, Amin M, Eggermont AMM, Koning GA. Enhanced Specificity and Drug Delivery in Tumors by cRGD-Anchoring Thermosensitive Liposomes.
Pharm Res 2015. [PMID:
26202516 PMCID:
PMC4628091 DOI:
10.1007/s11095-015-1746-7]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Purpose
To develop RGD-targeted thermosensitive liposomes with increased tumor retention, improving drug release efficiency upon mild hyperthermia (HT) in both tumor and angiogenic endothelial cells.
Methods
Standard termosensitive liposomes (TSL) and TSL containing a cyclic Arg-Gly-Asp (cRGD) pentapeptide with the sequence Arg-Cys-D-Phe-Asp-Gly (RGDf[N-Met]C) were synthetized, loaded with Dox and characterized. Temperature- and time-dependent drug release profiles were assessed by fluorometry. Intracellular Dox delivery was studied by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Cytotoxic effect of TSL and RGD-TSL was studied on B16Bl6 melanoma, B16F10 melanoma and HUVEC. Intravital microscopy was performed on B16Bl6 tumors implanted in dorsal-skin fold window-bearing mice. Pharmacokinetic and biodistribution of Dox-TSL and Dox-RGD-TSL were followed in B16Bl6 tumor bearing mice upon normothermia or initial hyperthermia conditions.
Results
DLS and cryo-TEM revealed particle homogeneity and size of around 85 nm. Doxorubicin loading efficiency was >95%as assessed by spectrofluorometry. Flow cytometry and confocal microscopy showed a specific uptake of RGD-TSL by melanoma and endothelial cells when compared to TSL and an increased doxorubicin delivery. High resolution intravital microscopy demonstrated specific accumulation of RGD-TSL to the tumor vasculature. Moreover, application of hyperthermia resulted in massive drug release from RGD-TSL. Biodistribution studies showed that initial hyperthermia increases Dox uptake in tumors from TSL and RGD-TSL.
Conclusion
RGD-TSL have potency to increase drug efficacy due to higher uptake by tumor and angiogenic endothelial cells in combination with heat-triggered drug release.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11095-015-1746-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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