Ferritin nanocages to encapsulate and deliver photosensitizers for efficient photodynamic therapy against cancer.

ABSTRACT: Photodynamic therapy is an emerging treatment modality that is under intensive preclinical and clinical investigations for many types of disease including cancer. Despite the promise, there is a lack of a reliable drug delivery vehicle that can transport photosensitizers (PSs) to tumors in a site-specific manner. Previous efforts have been focused on polymer- or liposome-based nanocarriers, which are usually associated with a suboptimal PS loading rate and a large particle size. We report herein that a RGD4C-modified ferritin (RFRT), a protein-based nanoparticle, can serve as a safe and efficient PS vehicle. Zinc hexadecafluorophthalocyanine (ZnF16Pc), a potent PS with a high (1)O2 quantum yield but poor water solubility, can be encapsulated into RFRTs with a loading rate as high as ~60 wt % (i.e., 1.5 mg of ZnF16Pc can be loaded on 1 mg of RFRTs), which far exceeds those reported previously. Despite the high loading, the ZnF16Pc-loaded RFRTs (P-RFRTs) show an overall particle size of 18.6 ± 2.6 nm, which is significantly smaller than other PS-nanocarrier conjugates. When tested on U87MG subcutaneous tumor models, P-RFRTs showed a high tumor accumulation rate (tumor-to-normal tissue ratio of 26.82 ± 4.07 at 24 h), a good tumor inhibition rate (83.64% on day 12), as well as minimal toxicity to the skin and other major organs. This technology can be extended to deliver other metal-containing PSs and holds great clinical translation potential.

SUBMITTER: Zhen Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3819164 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature