Maurocalcine as a non toxic drug carrier overcomes doxorubicin resistance in the cancer cell line MDA-MB 231

International audience; PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to overcome tumour cell resistance that generally develops after administration of commonly used anti-cancer drugs, such as doxorubicin. METHODS: Recently, cell penetrating peptides have been used for their ability to deliver non-permeant compounds into cells. One such cell penetrating peptide, maurocalcine, has been isolated from the venom of a Tunisian scorpion. Herein, we report the effects of doxorubicin covalently coupled to an analogue of maurocalcine on drug-sensitive or drug-resistant cell lines MCF7 and MDA-MB 231. RESULTS: We demonstrated the in vitro anti-tumoral efficacy of the doxorubicin maurocalcine conjugate. On a doxorubicin-sensitive cancer cell line, the maurocalcine-conjugated form appears slightly less efficient than doxorubicin itself. On the contrary, on a doxorubicin-resistant cancer cell line, doxorubicin coupling allows to overcome the drug resistance. This strategy can be generalized to other cell penetrating peptides since Tat and penetratin show similar effects. CONCLUSION: We conclude that coupling anti-tumoral drugs to cell penetrating peptides represent a valuable strategy to overcome drug resistance.