Premium
Cellulose nanocrystals as a novel nanocarrier for targeted drug delivery to brain tumor cells
Author(s) -
Cho Hyung Joon,
Lee Somin,
Dong Shuping,
Roman Maren,
Lee Yong Woo
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.762.2
Subject(s) - nanocarriers , cytotoxicity , doxorubicin , drug delivery , chemistry , cytotoxic t cell , glioma , conjugated system , flow cytometry , targeted drug delivery , microbiology and biotechnology , pharmacology , biochemistry , cancer research , in vitro , biology , medicine , chemotherapy , organic chemistry , polymer
The current study was designed to test our hypothesis that cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), which are rod‐like, glucose‐based nanoparticles, are effective nanocarriers for targeted drug delivery to brain tumor cells. Cell viability/cytotoxicity assays showed that CNCs are non‐toxic to three different human vascular endothelial cells, including HUVEC, HMEC‐1, and HBMEC. Real‐time RT‐PCR and immunofluorescence staining analyses demonstrated a significant up‐regulation of mRNA and protein expression of folate receptor (FR) in human glioma cells, DBTRG‐05MG and U‐87 MG. Incubation with fluorescent dye (FITC)‐labeled, folic acid (FA)‐conjugated CNCs (FA‐CNC‐FITC) resulted in a significant increase in cellular binding/uptake in DBTRG‐05MG and U‐87 MG cells compared with those treated with FITC‐conjugated CNCs without FA (CNC‐FITC), suggesting that the FA‐conjugated CNCs selectively target FR‐positive brain tumor cells. Additionally, the FA‐conjugated CNCs with doxorubicin (DOX) (FA‐CNC‐DOX) exerted a significant cytotoxic effect on DBTRG‐05MG and U‐87 MG cells while DOX‐conjugated CNCs without FA (CNC‐DOX) showed a minimal cytotoxic effect. These data demonstrate the biomedical potential of CNCs in targeted drug delivery applications for brain tumor treatment. (This work was supported by National Science Foundation # DMR0907567)