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An Ultra pH‐Sensitive and Aptamer‐Equipped hollow gold nanosphere for Selective Killing of Tumor Cells
Author(s) -
Zhao Nianxi,
You Jian,
Zeng Zihua,
Li Chun,
Zu Youli
Publication year - 2013
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.27.1_supplement.1088.7
Subject(s) - aptamer , doxorubicin , cancer cell , chemistry , drug delivery , targeted drug delivery , drug , biophysics , cancer research , cancer , microbiology and biotechnology , chemotherapy , pharmacology , biology , genetics , organic chemistry
Nanotechnology has often been applied in the drug delivery systems for the treatment of cancer. An ideal nanoscale system for drug delivery should be able to selectively deliver and rapidly release the carried therapeutic drug(s) in cancer cells and, more importantly, not react to off‐target cells. To reach this goal, we formulated a selective chemotherapeutic using a hollow gold nanosphere (HAuNS) equipped with a biomarker‐specific aptamer (Apt) and loaded with the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (DOX). The formed Apt‐HAuNS‐Dox, approximately 42 nm in diameter, specifically bound to lymphoma tumor cells and did not react to control cells. Through aptamer‐mediated selective cell binding, the Apt‐HAuNS‐Dox was internalized exclusively into the targeted tumor cells and then released the DOX intracellularly. Of note, although the formed Apt‐HAuNS‐Dox was stable under normal biological conditions (pH 7.4), it appeared ultrasensitive to pH change and rapidly released 80% of the loaded DOX within 2 hours at pH 5.0, a condition seen in cell lysosomes. Functional assays using cell mixtures showed that the Apt‐HAuNS‐Dox selectively killed lymphoma tumor cells, but had no effect on the growth of the off‐target cells in the same cultures, indicating this ultra‐pH‐sensitive Apt‐HAuNS‐Dox can selectively treat cancer through specific aptamer guidance and have no side effects on normal tissue.