Tumor-targeting peptide conjugated pH-responsive micelles as a potential drug carrier for cancer therapy

Xiang Lan Wu, Jong Ho Kim, Heebeom Koo, Sang Mun Bae, Hyeri Shin, Min Sang Kim, Byung Heon Lee, Rang Woon Park, In San Kim, Kuiwon Choi, Ick Chan Kwon, Kwangmeyung Kim, Doo Sung Lee

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    227 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Herein, we prepared tumor-targeting peptide (AP peptide; CRKRLDRN) conjugated pH-responsive polymeric micelles (pH-PMs) in cancer therapy by active and pH-responsive tumor targeting delivery systems, simultaneously. The active tumor targeting and tumoral pH-responsive polymeric micelles were prepared by mixing AP peptide conjugated PEG-poly(D,L-lactic acid) block copolymer (AP-PEG-PLA) into the pH-responsive micelles of methyl ether poly(ethylene glycol) (MPEG)-poly(βamino ester) (PAE) block copolymer (MPEG-PAE). These mixed amphiphilic block copolymers were self-assembled to form stable AP peptide-conjugated and pH-responsive APPEG- PLA/MPEG-PAE micelles (AP-pH-PMs) with an average size of 150 nm. The AP-pH-PMs containing 10 wt % of AP-PEG-PLA showed a sharp pH-dependent micellization/demicellization transition at the tumoral acid pH. Also, they presented the pH-dependent drug release profile at the acidic pH of 6.4. The fluorescence dye, TRITC, encapsulated AP-pH-PMs (TRITC-AP-pH-PMs) presented the higher tumor-specific targeting ability in vitro cancer cell culture system and in vivo tumor-bearing mice, compared to control pH-responsive micelles of MPEG-PAE. For the cancer therapy, the anticancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX), was efficiently encapsulated into the AP-pH-PMs (DOX-AP-pH-PMs) with a higher loading efficiency. DOX-AP-pH-PMs efficiently deliver anticancer drugs in MDA-MB231 human breast tumor-bearing mice, resulted in excellent anticancer therapeutic efficacy, compared to free DOX and DOX encapsulated MEG-PAE micelles, indicating the excellent tumor targeting ability of AP-pH-PMs. Therefore, these tumor-targeting peptide-conjugated and pH-responsive polymeric micelles have great potential application in cancer therapy.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)208-213
    Number of pages6
    JournalBioconjugate Chemistry
    Volume21
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2010 Feb 17

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Biotechnology
    • Bioengineering
    • Biomedical Engineering
    • Pharmacology
    • Pharmaceutical Science
    • Organic Chemistry

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