A novel drug delivery system functionalized with K237 peptide for dual-responsive paclitaxel release and enhanced antitumor effect on MDA-MB-231 cells

Publication date: Available online 14 December 2018Source: Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering AspectsAuthor(s): Qianqian Qian, Shiwei Niu, Gareth R. Williams, Jianrong Wu, Xueyi Zhang, Li-Min ZhuAbstractIn this work, we report K237-peptide functionalized chitosan (CS) nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with paclitaxel (PTX), for active targeting and effective treatment of KDR/Flk-1-overexpressing human breast cancer. The results displayed that the peptide-functionalized NPs put up favorable pH and temperature-sensitive characteristics. MTT assays showed that K237-CS (PTX)-g-PNIPAM NPs had a more peculiar and effective breast cancer cell growth inhibition compared with peptide-free NPs. Confocal experiments showed that the NPs could precisely target MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells which were over-expressing KDR/Flk-1 and could be effectively internalized into MDA-MB-231 cells, which verified that the uptake of FITC-K237-CS (PTX)-g-PNIPAM NPs was associated with KDR/Flk-1 on the breast cancer cell. These results indicate that the peptide functionalized NPs have potential applications for targeted delivery and the controlled release of anticancer drugs.Graphical abstract
Source: Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research