Open AccessA Glycyrrhetinic Acid-Modified Curcumin Supramolecular Hydrogel for liver tumor targeting therapy
Author(s) -
Guoqin Chen,
Jinliang Li,
Yanbin Cai,
Jie Zhan,
Jie Gao,
Mingke Song,
Yang Shi,
Zhimou Yang
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/srep44210
Subject(s) - curcumin , chemistry , bioavailability , cytotoxicity , in vitro , glutathione , ic50 , curcuma , supramolecular chemistry , solubility , mtt assay , biochemistry , combinatorial chemistry , pharmacology , organic chemistry , traditional medicine , biology , medicine , enzyme , molecule
Curcumin (Cur), a phenolic anti-oxidant compound obtained from Curcuma longa plant, possesses a variety of therapeutic properties. However, it is suffered from its low water solubility and low bioavailability property, which seriously restricts its clinical application. In this study, we developed a glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) modified curcumin supramolecular pro-gelator (GA-Cur) and a control compound Nap-Cur by replacing GA with the naphthylacetic acid (Nap). Both compounds showed good water solubility and could form supramolecular gels by disulfide bond reduction triggered by glutathione (GSH) in vitro . Both formed gels could sustainedly release Cur in buffer solutions. We also investigated the cytotoxicity of pro-gelators to HepG2 cells by a MTT assay and determined the cellular uptake behaviours of them by fluorescence microscopy and LC-MS. Due to the over expression of GA receptor in liver cancer cells, our pro-gelator of GA-Cur showed an enhanced cellular uptake and better inhibition capacity to liver tumor cells than Nap-Cur. Therefore, the GA-Cur could significantly inhibit HepG2 cell growth. Our study provides a novel nanomaterial for liver tumor chemotherapy.