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For successful chemotherapy against metastatic breast cancer, the great efforts are still required for designing drug delivery systems that can be selectively internalized by tumor cells and release the cargo in a controlled manner. In this work, the chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel (PTX) was loaded with the dual-pH sensitive micelle (DPM), which consisted of a pH-sensitive core, an acid-cleavable anionic shell, and a polyethylene glycol (PEG) corona. In the slightly acidic environment of tumor tissues, the anionic shell was taken off, inducing the conversion of the surface charge of DPM from negative to positive, which resulted in more efficient cellular uptake, stronger cytotoxicity and higher intra-tumor accumulation of PTX in the murine breast cancer 4T1 tumor-bearing mice models compared to the micelles with irremovable anionic or non-ionic shell. Meanwhile, the pH-sensitive core endowed DPM with rapid drug release in endo/lysosomes. The inhibitory rates of DPM against tumor growth and lung metastasis achieved 77.7% and 88.3%, respectively, without significant toxicity. Therefore, DPM is a promising nanocarrier for effective therapy of metastatic breast cancer due to satisfying the requirements of both selective uptake by tumor cells and sufficient and fast intracellular drug release.

Prolonged circulation, specific and effective uptake by tumor cells, and rapid intracellular drug release are three main factors for the drug delivery systems to win the battle against metastatic breast cancer. In this work, a tumor microenvironment-adaptive nanoparticle co-loading paclitaxel (PTX) and the anti-metastasis siRNA targeting Twist is prepared. The nanoparticle consists of a pH-sensitive core, a cationic shell, and a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-cleavable polyethylene glycol (PEG) corona conjugated via a peptide linker. PEG will be cut away by MMPs at the tumor site, which endows the nanoparticle with smaller particle size and higher positive charge, leading to more efficient cellular uptake in tumor cells and higher intra-tumor accumulation of both PTX and siRNA in the 4T1 tumor-bearing mice models compared to the nanoparticles with irremovable PEG. In addition, acid-triggered drug release in endo/lysosomes is achieved through the pH-sensitive core. As a result, the MMP/pH dual-sensitive nanoparticles significantly inhibit tumor growth and pulmonary metastasis. Therefore, this tumor-microenvironment-adaptive nanoparticle can be a promising codelivery vector for effective therapy of metastatic breast cancer due to simultaneously satisfying the requirements of long circulating time, efficient tumor cell targeting, and fast intracellular drug release.

The efficient and specific drug delivery to brain tumor is a crucial challenge for successful systemic chemotherapy. To overcome these limitations, here a tumor-triggered programmed wormlike micelle is reported with precise targeting and deep penetration to treat malignant gliomas, which is composed of pH-responsive mPEG-b-PDPA copolymer and bioreducible cyclic RGD peptide targeted cytotoxic emtansine (DM1) conjugates (RGD-DM1). The RGD-DM1 loaded nanoscaled wormlike micelles (RNW) exhibit nanometer-sized wormlike assemblies with the transverse diameter of 21.3±1.8 nm and length within 60–600 nm, and the RGD targeting peptide in RNW is 4.2% in weight. RNW can be dissociated at intracellular acidic environments to release RGD-DM1, and be further degraded into DM1 by cleavage of disulfide bonds in the reductive milieu. In particular, by exploiting the unique wormlike structure and the RGD targeting peptide modification, RNW can be endowed with obviously enhanced drug delivery to brain, precise targeting to brain tumor, deep penetration into tumor mass, and efficient internalization into glioma cells in a programmed manner, thereby surprisingly leading to an 88.9% inhibition on tumor progression in an orthotopic brain tumor model. Therefore, the properly designed RNW can provide a promising delivery platform for systemic chemotherapy of brain tumor.

Metastasis is the primary cause resulting in the high mortality of breast cancer. The inherent antimetastasis bioactivity of Pluronic copolymers with a wide range of hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) including Pluronic L61, P85, P123, F127, F68, and F108 was first explored on metastatic 4T1 breast cancer cells. The results indicated that P85 and P123 could strongly inhibit the migration and invasion of 4T1 cells. The effects of the polymers on cell healing, migration, and invasion exhibited bell-shaped dependencies on HLB of Pluronic copolymers, and the better antimetastasis effects of Pluronic copolymers could be achieved with the HLB between 8 and 16. P85 and P123 themselves could significantly inhibit pulmonary metastasis in 4T1 mammary tumor metastasis model in situ. In addition, a synergetic antimetastasis effect could be achieved during drug combination of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) and P85 or P123 intravenously. The metastasis effects of P85 and P123 both in vitro and in vivo were partially attributed to the downregulation of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). Therefore, Pluronic copolymers with moderate HLB 8-16 such as P85 and P123 could be promising excipients with therapeutics in drug delivery systems to inhibit breast cancer metastasis.

To maximize the interference efficacy of pGPU6/Neo-p65 shRNA-expressing pDNA (p65 shRNA) and subsequently more effectively inhibit tumor growth and lymphatic metastasis through blocking the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway, seven Tween 85-polyethyleneimine (PEI) conjugates (TnPs, n=2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8), which differed in the length of the polymethylene [-(CH2)n-] spacer between Tween 85 and PEI, were synthesized and investigated. The results showed that the transfection efficiency and cytotoxicity both increased with the spacer chain length. Then, TnPs with a [-(CH2)6-] spacer (T6P) were chosen to deliver p65 shRNA to a tumor and subsequently inhibit tumor growth and lymphatic metastasis. The T6P/p65 shRNA complex nanoparticles (T6Ns) could significantly down-regulate p65 expression in breast cancer cells, and consequently inhibit cell invasion and disrupt the tube formation. Most importantly, T6Ns accumulated greatly in tumor tissue, and as a result, significantly inhibited the growth and lymphatic metastasis of breast cancer xenograft. All these results indicated that the transfection efficacies of cationic amphiphiles could be significantly modulated by minor structural variations, and that T6P was promising for the effective delivery of p65 shRNA to knock down the expression of the key metastasis-driving genes and inhibit tumor growth and metastasis.

The therapeutic efficacy of lipophilic drugs is commonly restricted by the low systemic exposure after oral administration. In this work, a new delivery system combining the advantages of porous starch and self-assembled nanocarrier was designed to improve the oral absorption of lipophilic drugs. The lipophilic probucol loaded porous starch based self-assembled nano-delivery (PSN) system was developed and characterized. The probucol loaded nanocarrier (PLN) could be formed by self-assembly when PSN was dispersed into the gastrointestinal (GI) fluids. PLN was nanometer-sized particles with narrow size distribution and exhibited good stability in GI fluids. The aqueous solubility of probucol was increased over 50,000-fold by PSN delivery system and the cumulative release of lipophilic probucol was increased over 80% in GI fluids. The distribution of probucol in duodenum, jejunum and ileum was respectively improved 7.17, 15.99 and 33.61-fold by PSN. In particular, the oral bioavailability of probucol from PSN was greatly improved about 9.96-fold than that from free drug suspension and 3.71-fold higher than that from the directed adsorbed probucol loaded porous starch system, which effectively confirmed the high potential of the strategy in enhancing the oral absorption of lipophilic drugs.

A unique biomimetic drug-delivery system composed of 4T1-breast-cancer-cell membranes and paclitaxel-loaded polymeric nanoparticles (PPNs) (cell-membrane-coated PPNs), demonstrates superior interactions to its source tumor cells and elongated blood circulation, and displays highly cell-specific targeting of the homotypic primary tumor and metastases, with successful inhibition of the growth and lung metastasis of the breast cancer cells.

Sixteen novel cationic click polymers (CPs) were parallelly synthesized via the conjugation of four alkyne-functionalized monomers to four azide-functionalized monomers by "click chemistry". The biocompatibility of CPs was evaluated by in vitro cytotoxicity (MTT assay, Hoechst/PI apoptosis/necrosis assay, and cell cycle analysis) and blood compatibility tests (hemolysis and erythrocyte aggregation). The experimental results showed that the kind of amine groups, charge density, and number of methylene or ethylene glycol groups brought about the effect on toxicity of CPs. Among all polymers, two polymers (B1 and B2) showed good biocompatibility, inducing neither apoptosis nor necrosis at the test concentration and low hemolysis ratio and erythrocyte aggregation. In particular, B1 and B2 exhibited the comparable transfection efficiency compared with PEI (25 kDa) but much lower cytotoxicity. These results suggested that the novel cationic CPs could be promising carriers for gene delivery.

To achieve efficient gene delivery to the tumor after intravenous administration, biodegradable poly(2-(2-aminoethyoxy)ethoxy)phosphazene (PAEP) was modified by lactobionic acid, bearing a galactose group as a targeting ligand. Galactosylated poly(2-(2-aminoethyoxy)ethoxy)phosphazene (Gal-PAEP) with 4.9% substitution degree of galactose could condense pDNA into nanoparticles with a size around 130 nm at the polymer/DNA ratio (N/P) of 2-40. For BEL-7402 cells, the in vitro transfection efficiency of gal-PAEP/DNA complex nanoparticles (gal-PACNs) was much higher than that of the PAEP/DNA complex nanoparticles (PACNs). MTT assay indicated that the cytotoxicity of PACNs significantly decreased after conjugating with the galactose moiety. Gal-PACNs displayed the selective gene expression in the tumor and liver with relatively low gene expression in the lung or other organs compared with PACNs. These results suggested that gal-PACNs could be a promising targeting gene carrier to deliver a therapeutic gene in future.

The biodegradable cationic poly(2-(2-aminoethoxy)ethoxy)phosphazene (PAEP) bearing primary amino groups and a new PAEP derivative, urocanic acid (UA) modified PAEP (UA-PAEP), were synthesized and investigated for gene delivery. The results indicated that PAEP was able to condense DNA into complex nanoparticles with the size around 120 nm at the polymer/DNA ratio (N/P) of 35, at which PAEP/DNA complex nanoparticles (PACNs) showed efficient transfection activity in complete medium. After conjugating with UA at the substitution degree of 7% (UA-PAEP7), UA-PAEP7/DNA complex nanoparticles (UP7CNs) exhibited higher transfection efficiency than PACNs and UA-PAEP25/DNA complex nanoparticles (UP25CNs) and much lower cytotoxicity compared with PEI/DNA complex nanoparticles (PEICNs). The transfection experiment using a proton pump inhibitor suggested that the gene expression of PACNs and UP-PAEP/DNA complex nanoparticles (UPCNs) was dependent on the endosomal acidification process. The acetate solution (20 mM, pH5.7) improved the transfection activity of UP7CNs in HeLa and COS 7 cell lines, which was almost comparable to PEICNs at the N/P ratio of 35. Therefore, the results suggested that UP7CNs could be a promising carrier for gene delivery.

The selective introduction of a trimethylammonium cationic group into the C-6 position of chitosan (Cs) was successfully performed by "click chemistry" for the first time, and the 6-N,N,N-trimethyltriazole-Cs (TCs) showed good solubility in water. TCs showed strong DNA binding ability and high protection of DNA against nuclease degradation assessed by gel electrophoresis assay. TCNs showed lower degree of flocculation than Cs/DNA self-assembled nanoparticles (CsNs) in the presence of medium containing serum within 60 min. The introduction of trimethyltriazole group led to significantly increased cellular uptake compared with unmodified Cs, which resulted in higher transfection efficiency in HEK 293 and MDA-MB-468 cells. TCs were noncytotoxic, and viability of cells exposure to TCNs for 24 h was over 80% even at 50 microg/mL of polymer. These results suggested that TCs could be an efficient and safe material for gene delivery.

Human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the major causes of death worldwide. Targeted uptake of therapeutic agent in the cell-, tissue- or disease-specific manner represents a potential technology for the treatment of HCC. A new docetaxel-loaded hepatoma-targeted solid lipid nanoparticle (tSLN) was designed and prepared with galactosylated dioleoylphosphatidyl ethanolamine. The cellular cytotoxicity, cellular uptake, subcellular localization, in vivo toxicity, therapeutic effect, biodistribution and histology of tSLNs were investigated. The tSLNs showed the particle size about 120nm with encapsulation efficiency >90%, a low burst effect within the first day and a sustained release for the next 29 days in vitro. Cytotoxicity of tSLNs against hepatocellular carcinoma cell line BEL7402 was superior to Taxotere and non-targeted SLNs (nSLNs). The tSLNs also showed better tolerant and antitumor efficacy in murine model bearing hepatoma compared with Taxotere or nSLNs. The studies on cellular uptake and biodistribution indicated that the better antitumor efficacy of tSLNs was attributed to both the increased accumulation of drug in tumor and more cellular uptake by hepatoma cells. The histology demonstrated that tSLNs had no detrimental effect on both healthy liver and liver with fibrosis. These results implied that this targeted nanocarrier of docetaxel could enhance its antitumor effect in vivo with low systemic toxicity for the treatment of locally advanced and metastatic HCC.

Daidzein is a very good candidate for treating cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, but its poor oral absorption and bioavailability limit its curative efficacy. In this work, daidzein-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) with PEGylated phospholipid as stabilizer were successfully prepared by hot homogenization method. SLNs showed the mean particle size 126+/-14 nm with entrapment efficiency 82.5+/-3.7%. In vitro release of SLNs demonstrated a sustained release manner with cumulative release over 90% within 120 h in bovine serum albumin solution (4%, w/v). The pharmacokinetic behavior showed that SLNs loading daidzein could significantly increase circulation time compared with orally administrated daidzein suspension or intravenously delivered daidzein solution. SLNs showed the better effect on cardiovascular system of the anesthetic dogs by reducing the myocardial oxygen consumption (MOC) and the coronary resistance (CR) in heart compared with oral suspension or intravenous solution. The SLNs demonstrated the best effect on cerebrovascular system by increasing cerebral blood flow (CeBF) and reducing cerebrovascular resistance (CeR) in anesthetized dogs, and the protective effect on rats with ischemia-reperfusion injury model among three formulations. These results suggested that SLNs could be a potential candidate for the treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases.

A new cationic derivate of polyphosphazene with imidazole and 2-dimethylaminoethylamino (DMAEA) as side groups, poly(imidazole/DMAEA)phosphazene (PIDP), was synthesized and investigated for gene delivery. The half-lives of PIDP degradation under neutral (pH 7.4) and acidic conditions (pH 5.0) were 22 and 3 days at 37 degrees C, respectively. The cytotoxicity of PIDP assayed by MTT was much lower than that of poly(2-dimethylaminoethylamino)phosphazene (PDAP) and PEI 25K. PIDP could condense DNA into nanoparticles with a size around 100 nm and zeta potential (+25 mV) at the ratio of 10:1 (PIDP/DNA, w/w). The transfection efficiency of PIDP/DNA complex nanoparticles (PICNs) against 293T, COS-7 and Hela cells was much higher than that of PDAP/DNA complexes nanoparticles (PDCNs) and PEI/DNA complexes nanoparticles (PECNs) at 10:1 (polymer/DNA, w/w). Therefore, PIDP could be a safe, efficient and promising cationic polymer for gene therapy.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Herein, we first reported the codelivery of sorafenib and curcumin by directed self-assembled nanoparticles (SCN) to enhance the therapeutic effect on HCC. SCN was formed by employing the hydrophobic interactions among the lipophilic structure in sorafenib, curcumin, and similar hydrophobic segments of polyethylene glycol derivative of vitamin E succinate (PEG-VES), which comprised uniform spherical particles with particle size of 84.97 ± 6.03 nm. SCN presented superior effects over sorafenib, curcumin, and their physical mixture (Sora + Cur) on enhancing in vitro cytotoxicity and cell apoptosis in BEL-7402 cells and Hep G2 cells, and antiangiogenesis activities in tube formation and microvessel formation from aortic rings. Moreover, the tissue concentration of sorafenib and curcumin in gastrointestinal tract and major organs were significantly improved after their coassembly into SCN. In particular, in BEL-7402 cells induced tumor xenograft, SCN treatment displayed the obviously enhanced inhibitory effect on tumor progression over free drug monotherapy or their physical mixture, with significantly increased antiproliferation and antiangiogenesis capability. Thereby, the codelivered nanoassemblies of sorafenib and curcumin provided a promising strategy to enhance the combinational therapy of HCC.

The purpose of this work was to determine the stability of pDNA/poly(L-lysine) complex (DNA/PLL) during microencapsulation, prepare transferrin (TF) conjugated PEGylated nanoparticles (TF-PEG-NP) loading DNA/PLL, and assess its physicochemical characteristics and in vitro transfection efficiency. The DNA/PLL was prepared by mixing plasmid DNA (pDNA) in deionized water with various amounts of PLL. PEGylated nanoparticles (PEG-NP) loading DNA/PLL were prepared by a water?oil?water double emulsion solvent evaporation technique. TF-PEG-NP was prepared by coupling TF with PEG-NP. The physicochemical characteristics of TF-PEG-NP and in vitro transfection efficiency on K562 cells were measured. The results showed that free pDNA reserved its double supercoiled form (dsDNA) for only on average 25.7% after sonification, but over 70% of dsDNA was reserved after pDNA was contracted with PLL. The particle size range of TF-PEG-NP loading DNA/PLL was 150?450?nm with entrapment efficiency over 70%. TF-PEG-NP exhibited the low burst effect (

Breast cancer is the most vicious killer for women's health, while metastasis is the main culprit, which leads to failure of treatment by increasing relapse rate. In this work, a new complexes nanoparticles loading two siRNA (Snail siRNA (siSna) and Twist siRNA (siTwi)) and paclitaxel (PTX) were designed and constructed using two new amphiphilic polymer, polyethyleneimine-block-poly[(1,4-butanediol)-diacrylate-β-5-hydroxyamylamine] (PEI-PDHA) and polyethylene glycol-block-poly[(1,4-butanediol)-diacrylate-β-5-hydroxyamylamine] (PEG-PDHA) by self-assembly. The experimental results showed that in the 4T1 tumor-bearing mice models, PEI-PDHA/PEG-PDHA/PTX/siSna/siTwi) complex nanoparticles (PPSTs) raised the accumulation and retention of both PTX and siRNA in tumor after administrated intravenously, resulted in the strong inhibition of the tumor growth and metastasis simultaneously. It was found that co-delivery of siSna and siTwi had more significant anti-metastasis effect than delivering a single siRNA, as a result of simultaneously inhibiting the motility of cancer cells and degradation of ECM. Therefore, PPSTs could be a promising co-delivery vector for effective therapy of metastatic breast cancer.

The prevention and treatment of lung metastasis of breast cancer remain a major challenge. The vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) could provide a potential therapeutic target in lung metastasis. Herein, succinobucol (SCB), a water-insoluble potent and selective VCAM-1 inhibitor, was assembled with triblock polymer poloxamer P188 into nanoparticles due to the intermolecular hydrophobic interactions. The experimental results showed that the SCB loaded nanoparticles (SN) could greatly improve the oral delivery and suppress the lung metastasis of breast cancer. The cell migration and invasion abilities of metastatic 4T1 breast cancer cells were obviously inhibited by SN. Moreover, the VCAM-1 expression on 4T1 cells was significantly reduced by SN, and the cell-cell binding ratio of RAW 264.7 cells to 4T1 cells greatly decreased from 47.4% to 3.2%. Furthermore, the oral bioavailability of SCB was greatly improved about 13-fold by SN, and the biodistribution in major organs was evidently enhanced. In particular, in the metastatic breast cancer model, the lung metastasis was notably reduced by SN treatment, and the VCAM-1 expression in lung tissues was significantly inhibited. Thereby, SN could evoke a new effective therapeutic efficacy of SCB on lung metastasis of breast cancer by inhibition of VCAM-1 expression.

An appropriate co-delivery system for chemotherapeutic agents and nucleic acid drugs will provide a more efficacious approach for the treatment of breast cancer by reversing multidrug resistance (MDR). In this work, a new amphiphilic poly (β-amino ester), poly[(1,4-butanediol)-diacrylate-β-5-polyethylenimine]-block-poly[(1,4-butanediol)-diacrylate-β-5-hydroxy amylamine] (PDP-PDHA) was synthesized, and the doxorubicin (DOX) and survivin-targeting shRNA (shSur) co-loading nanoparticle (PDNs) were prepared. The pH-sensitive poly[(1,4-butanediol) diacrylate-β-5-hydroxy amylamine] (PDHA) endowed PDNs both pH-triggered drug release characteristics and enhanced endo/lysosomal escape ability, thus improving the cytotoxicity of DOX and the transfection efficiency. PDNs also increased the DOX accumulation, down-regulated 57.7% survivin expression, induced 80.8% cell apoptosis and changed the cell cycle in MCF-7/ADR cells. In the MCF-7/ADR tumor-bearing mice models, after administrated intravenously, PDNs raised the accumulation of DOX and shSur in the tumor tissue by 10.4 and 20.2 folds, respectively, resulting in obvious inhibition of the tumor growth with tumor inhibiting rate of 95.9%. The combination of DOX and RNA interference showed synergistic effect on overcoming MDR. Therefore, PDNs could be a promising co-delivery vector for effective therapy of drug resistant breast cancer.

We are reporting on the development of a unique drug delivery platform by directed self-assembly technique to improve the oral delivery of hydrophobic drugs.Herein, a series of probucol directed self-assembled nanoparticles (PDN) were developed with two components of probucol and surfactant such as Tween 20, Tween 80, D-alpha-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1,000 succinate (TPGS) and HS-15, which was respectively named as T20-PDN, T80-PDN, TP-PDN and HS-PDN. The formation of various PDNs was determined by in vitro characterization and the physicochemical properties of these PDNs were determined. Moreover, the performance of PDN in enhancing the oral delivery and possible correlation between the in vitro properties and in vivo performances were investigated.PDN was homogenous nanometer-sized particles with negative surface charge. The cellular uptake of probucol in Caco-2 cell monolayer was respectively increased 1.15, 1.82, 1.59 and 5.31-fold by these PDN. In particular, the oral bioavailability of these PDN was significantly improved 3.0, 4.1, 5.4 and 10.4 folds compared with the free drug suspension. The enhanced cellular uptake and oral bioavailability were correlated with the characters of involved surfactants and the particle size of PDN.Thereby, the directed self-assembled nanoparticles could provide a new strategy for enhancing the oral delivery of hydrophobic drugs.

For efficient reversal of multidrug resistance (MDR) in chemotherapy for breast cancer, multifunctional self-assembled nanoparticles (MSN) based on a new amphiphilic copolymer consisting of bioreducible poly[bis(2-hydroxylethyl)-disulfide-diacrylate-β-tetraethylenepentamine] and polycaprolactone (PBD-PCL) were constructed and characterized. shRNA targeting the apoptosis-inhibiting gene, Survivin, was incorporated into the nanoparticles with high RNA interference efficiency. PBD-PCL significantly inhibited the activity of P-glycoprotein, one of the most well-described drug-efflux pumps, and glutathione S-transferase, an important detoxification enzyme. MSN achieved colocalization of RNA and doxorubicin in tumors after intravenous administration and showed remarkable antitumor efficacy in MDR tumor-bearing mice with less side-effect than drug combination therapy. This was a new attempt to overcome MDR against three different mechanisms of MDR simutaneously: overexpression of drug efflux protein, activation of detoxification system, and blockage of apoptosis. These results indicated that the PBD-PCL-based MSN had obvious potential for therapy of breast cancer.

The cell-specific targeting drug delivery and controlled release of drug at the cancer cells are still the main challenges for anti-breast cancer metastasis therapy. Herein, the authors first report a biomimetic drug delivery system composed of doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded gold nanocages (AuNs) as the inner cores and 4T1 cancer cell membranes (CMVs) as the outer shells (coated surface of DOX-incorporated AuNs (CDAuNs)). The CDAuNs, perfectly utilizing the natural cancer cell membranes with the homotypic targeting and hyperthermia-responsive ability to cap the DAuNs with the photothermal property, can realize the selective targeting of the homotypic tumor cells, hyperthermia-triggered drug release under the near-infrared laser irradiation, and the combination of chemo/photothermal therapy. The CDAuNs exhibit a stimuli-release of DOX under the hyperthermia and a high cell-specific targeting of the 4T1 cells in vitro. Moreover, the excellent combinational therapy with about 98.9% and 98.5% inhibiting rates of the tumor volume and metastatic nodules is observed in the 4T1 orthotopic mammary tumor models. As a result, CDAuNs can be a promising nanodelivery system for the future therapy of breast cancer.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for the majority of lung cancer caused human death. In this work, we selected oncogene mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) as a therapeutic target for NSCLC treatment and proposed that sufficient MDM2 knockdown could inhibit tumor growth via induction of cell cycle arrest and cancer cell apoptosis. On this regard, a new pH-responsive diblock copolymer of poly(methacryloyloxy ethyl phosphorylcholine)-block-poly(diisopropanolamine ethyl methacrylate) (PMPC-b-PDPA)/siRNA-MDM2 complex nanoparticle with minimized surface charge and suitable particle size was designed and developed for siRNA-MDM2 delivery in vitro and in vivo. The experimental results showed that the nanoparticles were spherical with particle size around 50 nm. MDM2 knockdown in p53 mutant NSCLC H2009 cells induced significant cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and growth inhibition through upregulation of p21 and activation of caspase-3. Furthermore, the growth of H2009 xenograft tumor in nude mice was inhibited via repeated injection of PMPC-b-PDPA/siRNA-MDM2 complex nanoparticles. These results suggested that PMPC-b-PDPA/siRNA complex nanoparticles targeting a unique set of oncogenes could be developed into a new therapeutic approach for NSCLC treatment.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) remains one of the main challenges in the successful chemotherapy of human cancer. RNA interference (RNAi) strategy aiming at only one cause of MDR was widely applied, nevertheless hardly obtained satisfactory tumor-suppressing effect. In this work, a new attempt to package two kinds of RNA with different functions into one vector and reverse MDR against two different mechanisms via RNAi was carried out. A new bioreducible poly (β-amino esters) (PAEs), poly[bis(2-hydroxylethyl)-disulfide-diacrylate-β-tetraethylenepentamine] (PAP) was synthesized by Michael addition reaction. The PAEs/RNA complex nanoparticles (PAEN) were prepared. The experimental results demonstrated that co-delivery of iMdr-1-shRNA and iSurvivin-shRNA could be achieved by a single vector, and interfering two genes simultaneously had a synergistic effect on overcoming MDR. PAEN lowered the IC(50) value of doxorubicin (DOX) in MDR tumor cells to a comparable level to that in the sensitive cell line through down-regulating the expression of P-gp and Survivin, and decreased the tumor volumes in mice xenograft model bearing DOX-resistant human breast cancer when combined with DOX. These results illustrated that PAEN could be applied as potential efficient non-viral RNA carriers for reversing MDR.

Aim: A self-assembled nano-based delivery system was designed and developed to increase the oral bioavailability of poor hydrophilic and lipophilic daidzein. Methods: Daidzein was firstly combined with lecithin to form the daidzein–lecithin complex, then self-assembled into micelles (DLMs) with lecithin and sodium bile. The physiochemical properties and intestinal absorption of DLMs were characterized, and the pharmacokinetic behavior was evaluated in rats. Results: DLMs exhibited nanometer-sized particles. DLMs were mainly distributed in the stomach and proximal intestine after oral administration. The intestinal absorption of DLMs was significantly improved, and DLMs could be absorbed via both endocytosis and passive transport. The AUC0-t value of daidzein in rats treated with DLMs was ninefold greater than that of free daidzein suspension. Conclusion: The presented delivery system could provide a new promising strategy for enhancing the oral bioavailability of drugs with poor hydrophilicity and lipophilicity. Original submitted: 3/10/2010; Revised submitted: 22/12/2010

A nano-based delivery system was developed to improve the oral absorption of daidzein, which has poor hydrophilicity and lipophilicity. A daidzein-phospholipid complex (DPC) was firstly prepared to improve its lipophilicity, and then encapsulated into lipid nanocarriers (DLNs) to verify the effectiveness of the strategy in enhancing the oral delivery of daidzein. DLNs were spherical nanosized particles with evidently increased dissolution. DLNs were mainly distributed in stomach and proximal intestine of mice after oral administration, and the intestinal permeability of DLNs in rats was significantly improved when compared with that of daidzein solution. The peak concentration of daidzein in rats after oral administration of DPC and DLNs was 6833 ± 1112 ng mL(-1) and 14,512 ± 2390 ng mL(-1), respectively, which was improved over 10-fold and 21-fold than that of free daidzein. Moreover, the areas under the concentration-time curve (AUC(0-t)) of DPC and DLNs were enhanced by 3.62-fold and 6.87-fold compared with that of free daidzein. These results suggested that DLNs could be an effective strategy to improve the oral absorption of poor hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs like daidzein.

A new “intelligent” nanoassembly (INA), consisting of a condensed core of pDNA with protamine sulfate (PS) and a dioleoylphosphatidyl ethanolamine (DOPE)-based lipid envelope containing poly(ethylene glycol)-disulfide-DOPE (PSD), was designed and investigated. The in vitro release experiment was carried out in solution containing 10 mM of Glutathione, which reflected the redox potential of the intracellular environment. The experimental result indicated that PSD possessed a good ability of self-dePEGylation and could result in efficient release of content in the reductive environment. INAs showed higher transfection efficiency and much lower cytotoxicity compared with Lipofectamine™ 2000 on HEK 293 cells. Cellular uptake and subcellular localization, as well as the quantitation of nuclear transfer demonstrated that the superior transfection efficiency of INAs could result from both enhanced cellular uptake mediated by DOPE and efficient nuclear delivery mediated by PS. The biodistribution of INAs in nude mice bearing tumor implied that this PSD-based nanoassembly loading PS/DNA could be a promising gene delivery system for tumor therapy.

Docetaxel is one of the most promising chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, but it shows fearful side effects. We hypothesized that a novel targeted nanoassembly (TNA) could provide efficient intracellular drug delivery in breast tumor cells overexpressing epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor and thus improve the efficacy and reduce the side effects of docetaxel. We prepared the novel docetaxel loaded TNAs formed by polyethylene glycol-distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine (PEG-DSPE) and modified with EGF. Compared with nontargeted nanoassemblies (NNAs), TNAs showed obvious improvement of cell-specific uptake and internalization, and revealed more cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-468 cells by inducing more late apoptosis and subG1 cells at low drug concentration, or more G2/M arrest at high drug concentration than NNAs or Taxotere. In BALB/c mice bearing breast tumor xenografts, TNAs showed stronger inhibition of tumor growth compared with NNAs (relative tumor volume in mice treated with 5 mg/kg TNAs = 0.99 and 10 mg/kg NNAs = 1.71, p < 0.05) or Taxotere (relative tumor volume in mice treated with 5 mg/kg TNAs = 0.99 and 10 mg/kg Taxotere = 4.20, p < 0.01). In particular, tumor disappeared completely in the TNA group at a dose of 10 mg/kg. The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of TNAs was about four times higher than that of Taxotere. TNAs also demonstrated a much longer circulation time in vivo and more drug accumulation in tumor in a murine breast cancer model than Taxotere. TNA treatment also prolonged survival of mice. These results suggested that TNAs could have more potential as a delivery system for breast cancer chemotherapy.

The conception of a modular designed and viruslike nonviral vector has been presented for gene delivery. Recently, we constructed a new smart nanoassembly (SNA) with multifunctional components that was composed of a condensed core of pDNA with protamine sulfate (PS) and a dioleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE)-based lipid envelope containing poly(ethylene glycol)--vinyl ether--DOPE (PVD). SNAs with mPEG 2000 (SNAs1) or mPEG 5000 (SNAs2) loading PS/DNA were prepared by the lipid film hydration technique. The particle size was about 160 nm for SNAs1 and 240 nm for SNAs2 loading PS/DNA (10:1 w/w), and the zeta potential was about 4 mV for two SNAs. The in vitro release experiment indicated that PVD possessed a good ability for self-dePEGylation, which could result in the recovery of an excellent fusogenic capacity of DOPE at low pH. SNAs showed a higher transfection efficiency and much lower cytotoxicity than did Lipofectamine 2000 on HEK 293, HeLa, and COS-7 cells. The cellular uptake and subcellular localization demonstrated that the superior transfection efficiency of SNAs could result from the fact that the DOPE-based lipid envelope containing PVD increased PS/DNA in the cytoplasm, and protamine enhanced the nuclear delivery or overcame the nuclear membrane barrier. These results implied that the PVD-based nanoassembly loading PS/DNA could be a promising gene delivery system.

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of betaine substitution degree of chitosan N-betainates (CsB) on cellular uptake, cytotoxicity and transfection efficiency of CsB/DNA complex nanoparticles (CsBNs) against COS-7 and MDA-MB-468 cells. The polymers with three substitution degrees (CsB12, CsB47 and CsB85) complexed with pDNA formed CsBN12s, CsBN47s and CsBN85s. The CsBNs showed less pH dependency with smaller particle size and higher zeta potential than that of chitosan/pDNA complex nanoparticles (CsNs) at neutral pH. CsBN85s showed stronger cellular uptake than that of CsBN47s or CsBN12s. CsBNs showed higher cytotoxicity than CsNs, and a trend increasing toxicity with substitution degree increasing. In COS-7 cells, the transfection efficiency increased with the substitution degree increasing, while the opposite result was observed in MDA-MB-468 cells. Chitosan modified with betaine could increase its ability to facilitate DNA uptake and its cytotoxicity, both of which showed the influence on transfection efficiency. It was able to increase cellular uptake and transfection efficiency of complex nanoparticles in COS-7 cells to increase betaine substitution of CsB, however, the higher sensitivity of MDA-MB-468 cells to CsBs led to decreased transfection efficiency due to the increased cytotoxicity with betaine substitution increasing. The predominant role of cellular uptake or toxicity in affecting transfection efficiency was different in two cell lines. These results provided an important guidepost for further development of chitosan derivatives/pDNA complexes as non-viral gene vectors.

Chitosan (Cs) is a natural cationic polysaccharide that has shown potential as non-viral vector for gene delivery because of its biocompatibility and low toxicity. However, chitosan used for gene delivery is limited due to its poor water solubility and low transfection efficiency. The purpose of this work was to prepare Arginine-chitosan (Arg-Cs)/DNA self-assemble nanoparticles (ACSNs), and determine their in vitro characteristics and transfection efficiency against HEK 293 and COS-7 cells. Our experimental results showed that the particle size and zeta potential of ACSNs prepared with different N/P ratios were 200-400nm and 0.23-12.25mV, respectively. The in vitro transfection efficiency of ACSNs showed dependence on pH of transfection medium, and the highest expression efficiency was obtained at pH 7.2. The transfection efficiency increased with the ratio of chitosan-amine/DNA phosphate (N/P ratio) from 1 to 5, and reached the highest level with the N/P ratio 5. Effect of plasmid dosage on the transfection efficiency showed the highest transfection efficiency was obtained at 4microg/well for HEK 293 cells and 6microg/well for COS-7 cells. The transfection efficiency of ACSNs was much higher than that of Cs/DNA self-assemble nanoparticles (CSNs). The average cell viability of ACSNs was over 90%. These results suggested that ACSNs could be a safe and effective non-viral vector for gene delivery.

Cationic polyorganophosphazene has shown the ability to deliver gene. To obtain more efficient transfection, His(Boc)-OMe bearing histidine moiety was introduced to synthesize a new derivative of cationic polyphosphazenes with another side group of 2-dimethylaminoethylamine (DMAEA). The poly(DMAEA/His(Boc)-OMe)phosphazene (PDHP) and DNA could self-assemble into nanoparticles with a size around 110 nm and zeta potential of +15 mV at the PDHP/DNA ratio of 10:1 (w/w). The maximum transfection efficiency of PDHP/DNA self-assembled nanoparticles (PHSNs) against 293 T cells was much higher than that of poly(di-2-dimethylaminoethylamine) phosphazenes (PDAP)/DNA self-assembled nanoparticles (PASNs) and PEI 25/DNA self-assembled nanoparticles (PESNs) at the polymer/DNA ratio of 10:1, but the cytotoxicity of PDHP assayed by MTT was much lower than that of PDAP and PEI 25. These results suggested that PDHP could be a good candidate with high transfection efficiency and low cytotoxicity for gene delivery.

The aim of this work was to design a new multifunctional nano device (MND) for gene delivery. This MND was equipped with folic acid as ligand, which was conjugated to terminal amido of poly(aminopoly(ethylene glycol)cyanoacrylate-co-hexadecyl cyanoacrylate) (poly(H(2)NPEGCA-co-HDCA)) to synthesize poly(Folate-HNPEGCA-co-HDCA), protamine sulfate (PS) as DNA condenser and for nuclear transfer, PEG chain from poly(Folate-HNPEGCA-co-HDCA) for decreasing macrophages recognition and extending half-life, dioleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) for endosomal escape, and we supposed that the latent DOPE fusogenicity could be gently restored along with fast degradation of poly(Folate-HNPEGCA-co-HDCA) in MND membrane within endosome. Our experimental results showed that optimum complexation ( approximately 97%) of DNA was achieved at DNA:PS=1:3 (w/w). The MND showed different loading ratio by lipid film hydration technique with the highest loading ratio about 12%, the particle size range 200-400 nm, surface charge range 8 mV-15 mV. MND1 (poly(Folate-HNPEGCA-co-HDCA)/DOPE, 5:95, molar ratio) exhibited a high burst release effect with 60% of pDNA/PS released within 1 day at PBS (pH 4.5), but with 21.4% and 8.1% pDNA/PS release at PBS with pH 5.8 and 7.4 within 24 h, respectively. However, lesser pDNA/PS release occurred in MND2 (poly(Folate-HNPEGCA-co-HDCA)/DOPE, 10:90, molar ratio) with 46%, 16.9% and 7.8% of pDNA/PS released at PBS with pH 4.5, 5.8 and 7.4 within 24 h, respectively. After 1 day, pDNA/PS displayed a sustained release pattern. The amount of cumulated pDNA/PS release over 3 days was 75% and 51.2% at PBS with pH 4.5 for MND1 and MND2, respectively. The MND loading pDNA/PS showed that luciferase activity was over 0.5 ng luciferase/mg protein in KB cells, in particular, the MND1 showed the highest transfection efficiency (0.66 ng luciferase/mg protein) in KB cells, which was much higher compared with in A549 cells or other formulations such as LipofectAMINE, free pDNA/PS and control multifunctional nano device (CMND), whose lipid film was consisted of poly(H(2)NPEGCA-co-HDCA) and DOPE. In addition, MND also showed good protection during encapsulation and low cytotoxicity. As a result, MND could be a more potential non-viral vector for delivery of DNA.

The purpose of this work is to prepare donepezil microparticles (DM) and evaluate its advantage as a sustained release delivery system with subcutaneous injection once a month. DM was prepared using poly (d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) by an oil-water emulsion solvent evaporation technique. DM showed the loading ratio 13.2+/-2.1% (w/w) and yield 54.8+/-0.8% with mean particle size about 75mum. In vitro release of DM showed that donepezil completely released within 28 days in water, but the cumulative release percentages up to day 30 were 98.4% and 49.1% for phosphate buffer saline (PBS, pH 5.8) and PBS (pH 7.4), respectively. The in vivo experiment demonstrated that DM (90mg/kg) produced a sustained release process in rats, and reached steady-state concentration at day 8 and maintained until day 27 with steady-state levels of donepezil between 130.3+/-7.8 and 121+/-9.8ng/ml, which was accordance with that of free donepezil by oral application route (3mg/kgday). DM (90mg/kg) by subcutaneous infusion in rats produced the same pharmacological role as free donepezil (3mg/kgday) by oral application route. These results implicated that DM as a sustained release delivery strategy could substitute for its oral formulation for therapy of AD and come true its administration once a month.

In order to study the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD), and explore therapeutic drug or approaches, the accurate animal model of PD with inexpensive, biocompatible and convenient administration was necessary. The aim of the present work was to investigate a delivery strategy for rotenone microspheres in an animal model of PD. The rotenone microspheres were prepared by solvent evaporation technique. The rotenone microspheres showed high entrapment efficiency (97.4+/-2.2%) with particle size about 100 microm. In vitro release of rotenone microspheres demonstrated different profiles from medium with different pH or concentration of isopropyl alcohol. The most consistent medium with in vivo rotenone levels in rat plasma was PBS (pH 5.8) with 20% isopropyl alcohol, and the cumulated release amount of rotenone over 30 days was 95.4% in it. The rotenone microspheres (9 mg/kg) produced typical PD symptoms in rats, for example, the cataleptic behavior test demonstrated a obviously prolonged descent latency compared with control animals after administration, and the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunohistochemistry tests showed typical histological evidence of selective degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system (striatum and substantia nigra) in rotenone microspheres-treated rats. In addition, this delivery system for rotenone model showed many noticeable advantages such as inexpensive, biocompatible and expedient administration by direct subcutaneous injection. This information suggested that rotenone microspheres as a delivery strategy for setting up an ideal animal model of PD was feasible.

The aim of the present work was to assess the merits of an actively targetable nanoparticles (ATN), PEG-coated biodegradable polycyanoacrylate nanoparticles (PEG-nanoparticles) conjugated to transferrin, for paclitaxel delivery. PEG-nanoparticles loading paclitaxel were prepared by solvent evaporation technique in advance. ATN were prepared by coupling of transferrin to PEG-nanoparticles. The results showed that the average encapsulation efficiency of ATN was 93.4 ± 3.6% with particle size (101.4 ± 7.2 nm) and zeta-potential (−13.6 ± 1.1 mV). The paclitaxel loaded ATN exhibited a low burst effect with about only 16.2% drug release within the first phase. Subsequently, paclitaxel release profiles displayed a sustained release phase. The amount of cumulated paclitaxel release over 30 days was 81.6%. ATN exhibited a markedly delayed blood clearance in mice, and the paclitaxel level from ATN remained much higher at 24 h compared with that of free drug from paclitaxel injection. The distribution profiles of ATN in S-180 solid tumor-bearing mice after intravenous administration showed the tumor accumulation of paclitaxel increase with time, and the paclitaxel concentration in tumor was about 4.8 and 2.1 times higher than those from paclitaxel injection and PEG-nanoparticles at 6 h after intravenous injection. For mice treated with 20 mg/kg × 5 of ATN, the decrease in body weight was limited within 4% of the initial weight at 5 days after the final administration, and tumor regression was significantly observed with complete tumor regression for five out of nine mice. The tumor burden with ATN-treated mice was much smaller compared with free paclitaxel or NTN-treated mice. In addition, the life span of tumor-bearing mice was significantly increased when they were treated with ATN, in particular, three mice survived over 60 days. Thus, PEG-coated biodegradable polycyanoacrylate nanoparticles conjugated to transferrin could be an effective carrier for paclitaxel delivery.