Near infrared fluorescent peptide nanoparticles for enhancing esophageal cancer therapeutic efficacy

Nat Commun. 2018 Jul 4;9(1):2605. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04763-y.

Abstract

Various types of nanoparticles have been proposed for targeted drug delivering, imaging, and tracking of therapeutic agents. However, highly biocompatible nanoparticles with structure-induced fluorescence and capability to conjugate with biomarkers and drugs remain lacking. This research proposes and synthesizes fluorescent nanoparticles (f-PNPs) assembled by cyclic peptides to combine imaging and drug delivering for esophageal cancer (EC). To achieve tumor targeting, f-PNPs are first conjugated with RGD moieties to selectively target EC cells via αvβ3 integrin; the nanoparticles are then embedded with epirubicin (EPI). Cell viability assays and analysis of tissue histology reveal that EPI-loaded RGD-f-PNPs (RGD-f-PNPs/EPI) led to significantly reduced cardiotoxicity and improved anti-tumor activity compared to EPI alone. Moreover, the drug delivery to tumor sites and therapeutic responses could be monitored with near-infrared fluorescence using RGD-f-PNPs/EPI. This unique nanoparticle system may lead to potential approaches for bioorganic fluorescence-based delivering, imaging, and drug release tracking.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / pharmacokinetics
  • Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / pharmacology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Drug Compounding
  • Drug Delivery Systems / methods*
  • Drug Monitoring / methods
  • Epirubicin / pharmacokinetics
  • Epirubicin / pharmacology*
  • Esophageal Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Esophageal Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Esophageal Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Esophageal Neoplasms / pathology
  • Fluorescence
  • Humans
  • Injections, Intraperitoneal
  • Integrin alphaVbeta3 / metabolism
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Nude
  • Molecular Imaging / methods*
  • Nanoparticles / administration & dosage
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry
  • Oligopeptides / chemistry
  • Oligopeptides / metabolism
  • Peptides, Cyclic / chemistry
  • Peptides, Cyclic / metabolism
  • Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Substances

  • Antibiotics, Antineoplastic
  • Integrin alphaVbeta3
  • Oligopeptides
  • Peptides, Cyclic
  • Epirubicin
  • arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid