Brain tumor-targeted therapy by systemic delivery of siRNA with Transferrin receptor-mediated core-shell nanoparticles.

Treatment of brain tumor remains a great challenge worldwide. Development of a stable, safe, and effective siRNA delivery system which is able to cross the impermeable blood-brain barrier (BBB) and target glioma cells is necessary. This study aims to investigate the therapeutic effects of intravenous administration of T7 peptide modified core-shell nanoparticles (named T7-LPC/siRNA NPs) on brain tumors. Layer-by-layer assembling of protamine/chondroitin sulfate/siRNA/cationic liposomes followed by T7 peptide modification has been carried out in order to obtain a targeted siRNA delivery system. In vitro cellular uptake experiments demonstrated a higher intracellular fluorescence intensity of siRNA in brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMVECs) and U87 glioma cells when treated with T7-LPC/siRNA NPs compared with PEG-LPC/siRNA NPs. In the co-culture model of BMVECs and U87 cells, a significant down-regulation of EGFR protein expression occurred in the U87 glioma cells after treatment with the T7-LPC/siEGFR NPs. Moreover, the T7-LPC/siRNA NPs had an advantage in penetrating into a deep region of the tumor spheroid compared with PEG-LPC/siRNA NPs. In vivo imaging revealed that T7-LPC/siRNA NPs accumulated more specifically in brain tumor tissues than the non-targeted NPs. Also, in vivo tumor therapy experiments demonstrated that the longest survival period along with the greatest downregulation of EGFR expression in tumor tissues was observed in mice with an intracranial U87 glioma treated with T7-LPC/siEGFR NPs compared with mice receiving other formulations. Therefore, we believe that these transferrin receptor-mediated core-shell nanoparticles are an important potential siRNA delivery system for brain tumor-targeted therapy.

Wei L ，Guo XY ，Yang T ，Yu MZ ，Chen DW ，Wang JC ... -  《-》

Systemic delivery of siRNA by T7 peptide modified core-shell nanoparticles for targeted therapy of breast cancer.

Systemic delivery of siRNA is the most challenging step to transfer RNAi to clinical application for breast cancer therapy. In this study, the tumor targeted, T7 peptide modified core-shell nanoparticles (named as T7-LPC/siRNA NPs) were constructed to achieve effective systemic delivery of siRNA. The core-shell structure of T7-LPC/siRNA NPs enables them to encapsulate siRNA in the core and protect it from RNase degradation during circulation. In vitro cellular uptake and gene silencing experiments demonstrated that T7-LPC/siEGFR NPs could deliver EGFR siRNA into breast cancer cells through receptor mediated endocytosis and effectively down-regulate the EGFR expression. In vivo distribution study proved the T7-LPC/siRNA NPs could deliver fluorescence labeled siRNA to the tumor site more efficiently than the non-targeted PEG-LPC/siRNA NPs after intravenous administration. Furthermore, the experiments of in vivo tumor therapy confirmed that intravenous administration of T7-LPC/siEGFR NPs led to an effective EGFR down-regulation and an obvious inhibition of breast tumor growth, with little activation of immune responses and negligible body weight loss. These results suggested that T7-LPC/siRNA NPs could be an effective and safe systemic siRNA delivery system for RNAi-based breast cancer therapy.

Yu MZ ，Pang WH ，Yang T ，Wang JC ，Wei L ，Qiu C ，Wu YF ，Liu WZ ，Wei W ，Guo XY ，Zhang Q ... -  《-》

Core-shell type lipid/rPAA-Chol polymer hybrid nanoparticles for in vivo siRNA delivery.

Our previous study had reported that cholesterol-grafted poly(amidoamine) (rPAA-Chol polymer) was able to self-assemble into cationic nanoparticles and act as a potential carrier for siRNA transfection. In this study, the core-shell type lipid/rPAA-Chol hybrid nanoparticles (PEG-LP/siRNA NPs and T7-LP/siRNA NPs) were developed for improving in vivo siRNA delivery by modifying the surface of rPAA-Chol/siRNA nanoplex core with a lipid shell, followed by post-insertion of polyethylene glycol phospholipid (DSPE-PEG) and/or peptide (HAIYPRH, named as T7) modified DSPE-PEG-T7. The integrative hybrid nanostructures of LP/siRNA NPs were evidenced by dynamic light scattering (DLS), confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM), cryo-transmission electron microscope (Cryo-TEM) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay. It was demonstrated that the T7 peptide modified LP/siRNA NPs (T7-LP/siRNA NPs) exhibited uniform and spherical structures with particle size of 99.39 ± 0.65 nm and surface potential of 42.53 ± 1.03 mV, and showed high cellular uptake efficiency and rapid endosomal/lysosomal escape ability in MCF-7 cells. Importantly, in vitro gene silencing experiment demonstrated that both of pegylated and targeted LP/siEGFR NPs exhibited significantly stronger downregulation of EGFR protein expression level in MCF-7 cells, compared to that of the physical mixture of siRNA lipoplexes and rPAA-Chol/siRNA nanoplexes. In vivo tumor therapy on nude mice bearing MCF-7 tumors further confirmed that the targeted T7-LP/siEGFR NPs exhibited the greatest inhibition on tumor growth via transferrin receptor-mediated targeting delivery, without any activation of immune responses and significant body weight loss following systemic administration. These findings indicated that the core-shell type T7-LP/siRNA nanoparticles would be promising siRNA delivery systems for in vivo tumor-targeted therapy.

Gao LY ，Liu XY ，Chen CJ ，Wang JC ，Feng Q ，Yu MZ ，Ma XF ，Pei XW ，Niu YJ ，Qiu C ，Pang WH ，Zhang Q ... -  《-》

T7 peptide-functionalized nanoparticles utilizing RNA interference for glioma dual targeting.

Among all the malignant brain tumors, glioma is the deadliest and most common form with poor prognosis. Gene therapy is regarded as a promising way to halt the progress of the disease or even cure the tumor and RNA interference (RNAi) stands out. However, the existence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood tumor barrier (BTB) limits the delivery of these therapeutic genes. In this work, the delivery system targeting to the transferrin (Tf) receptor highly expressed on both BBB and glioma was successfully synthesized and would not compete with endogenous Tf. U87 cells stably express luciferase were employed here to simulate tumor and the RNAi experiments in vitro and in vivo validated that the gene silencing activity was 2.17-fold higher with the targeting ligand modification. The dual-targeting gene delivery system exhibits a series of advantages, such as high efficiency, low toxicity, stability and high transaction efficiency, which may provide new opportunities in RNAi therapeutics and nanomedicine of brain tumors.

Kuang Y ，An S ，Guo Y ，Huang S ，Shao K ，Liu Y ，Li J ，Ma H ，Jiang C ... -  《-》

Synergistic inhibition of breast cancer by co-delivery of VEGF siRNA and paclitaxel via vapreotide-modified core-shell nanoparticles.

A somatostatin analog, vapreotide (VAP), can be used as a ligand for targeting drug delivery based on its high affinity to somatostatin receptors (SSTRs), which is overexpressed in many tumor cells. RNA interference plays an important role on downregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is important for tumor growth, progression and metastasis. To improve tumor therapy efficacy, the vapreotide-modified core-shell type nanoparticles co-encapsulating VEGF targeted siRNA (siVEGF) and paclitaxel (PTX), termed as VAP-PLPC/siRNA NPs, were developed in this study. When targeted via somatostatin receptors to tumor cells, the VAP-PLPC/siRNA NPs could simultaneously delivery siVEGF and PTX into cells and achieve a synergistic inhibition of tumor growth. Interestingly, in vitro cell uptake and gene silencing experiments demonstrated that the targeted VAP-PLPC/siRNA NPs exhibited significant higher intracellular siRNA accumulation and VEGF downregulation in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells, compared to those of the non-targeted PEG-PLPC/siRNA NPs. More importantly, in vivo results further demonstrated that the targeted VAP-PLPC/siRNA NPs had significant stronger drug distribution in tumor tissues and tumor growth inhibition efficacy via receptor-mediated targeting delivery, accompany with an obvious inhibition of neovascularization induced by siVEGF silencing. These results suggested that the co-delivery of siRNA and paclitaxel via vapreotide-modified core-shell nanoparticles would be a promising approach for tumor targeted therapy.

Feng Q ，Yu MZ ，Wang JC ，Hou WJ ，Gao LY ，Ma XF ，Pei XW ，Niu YJ ，Liu XY ，Qiu C ，Pang WH ，Du LL ，Zhang Q ... -  《-》