The serious therapeutic obstacles to glioma treatment include poor penetration across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and low accumulation of therapeutic drugs at tumor sites. In this study, borneol combined with CGKRK peptide (a ligand of the heparan sulfate which overexpress on the glioma cells) modified paclitaxel prodrug self-assembled redox-responsive nanoparticles (CGKRK-PSNPs) were hypothesized to enhance the BBB penetration ability and active tumor targeting efficiency, respectively. The resulting CGKRK-PSNPs possessed a spherical shape with a small particle size (105.61 ± 1.53 nm) and high drug loading for PTX (54.18 ± 1.13%). The drug release behavior proved that CGKRK-PSNPs were highly sensitive to glutathione (GSH) redox environment. The in vitro cell experiments suggested that CGKRK-PSNPs significantly increased the cellular uptake and cytotoxicity of U87MG cells, meanwhile CGKRK-PSNPs showed the low cytotoxicity against BCEC cells. Combined with borneol, CGKRK-PSNPs exhibited enhanced transportation across in vitro BBB model. In intracranial U87MG glioma-bearing nude mice, the higher accumulation of CGKRK-PSNPs combined with borneol was observed through real-time fluorescence image. Moreover, the in vivo anti-glioma results confirmed that CGKRK-PSNPs combined with borneol could improve the anti-glioma efficacy with the prolonged medium survival time (39 days). In conclusion, the collaborative strategy of CGKRK-PSNPs combined with borneol provided a promising drug delivery routine for glioblastoma therapy.
Ke Li,Xiaoyan Jia,Dawei Guo,Haiming Wang,Haonan Shui,Hongbo Qi,Hua Zhang
Placenta-targeting nano-drugs have emerged as a safe and effective treatment option for preeclampsia (PE). Downregulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) induces dysfunctional placental trophoblasts and facilitates placental reactive oxygen species, which weakens the PGC1α/UCP2 oxidative stress pathway, causing PE symptoms. Herein, rosiglitazone (RGZ), as an effective PPARγ agonist, exhibited great potential in PE treatment. However, low solubility and nonspecific effect limit the clinical application. Therefore, this study presents CGKRK-modified and RGZ-loaded lipid nanoparticles (CRNPs), based on the specific binding of CGKRK to calreticulin highly expressed in human and mouse trophoblasts. CRNP alleviates excessive oxidative stress and improves placental development and fetal growth in L-NAME-induced PE mice. However, it does not cause maternal side effects or fetal malformation in pregnant mice injected with a high dose of CRNP through the tail vein. Consequently, the safe and effective delivery of CRNP optimizes the placental-targeting therapeutic strategy. Natural sciences; Nanoparticles; Biological sciences; Female reproductive endocrinology