Endothelial cells in the angiogenic vessels of solid tumors over-express several proteins, which could be recognized by some peptide ligands. In this study, the targeting properties of two peptides, RGD （arginine-glycine-aspartic acid） and NGR （asparagine-glycine-arginine）, towards human umbilical vein endothelial cells （HUVEC） were compared in vitro using doxorubicin entrapped liposomes as vehicles. The doxorubicin-loaded sterically stabilized liposomes （SSL-DOX） and RGD or NGR modified liposomes （RGD-SSL-DOX or NGR-SSL-DOX） were prepared and characterized. The studied properties included particle size, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency and in vitro release rate. Flow cytometry, confocal microscopy and SRB assay were used on HUVEC to assess the targeting effect of the two peptides towards endothelial cells of tumor vasculature. All of the liposomes prepared in this study were obtained with encapsulation efficiencies of above 98%, particle sizes of about 65-75 nm and slight negative surface charges. The in vitro release results demonstrated that the modification of RGD or NGR did not alter the release behaviors of liposomes. It was observed in flow cytometry that the uptake of doxorubicin by HUVEC from SSL-DOX, NGR-SSL-DOX, RGD-SSL-DOX and doxorubicin solution followed the order of doxorubicin solution〉RGD-SSL-DOX 〉NGR-SSL-DOX〉SSL-DOX, and the intemalized doxorubicin distributed in both nuclei and cytoplasm for ligand modified SSL and only in nuclei for non-targeted SSL. The order of cytotoxicity in SRB assay was the same as that of the uptake study. The characterization study indicated that modifications did not significantly change the properties of the sterically stabilized liposomes. HUVEC treated with both modified liposomes showed higher uptake of doxorubicin as compared to those with SSL-DOX as a result of the receptor-mediated endocytosis. Moreover, RGD-SSL-DOX exhibited better targeting effect than NGR-SSL-DOX.
In the present study, we prepared novel NGR-modified PEG-PLGA polymeric micelles containing paclitaxel （NGR- PM-PTX） in order to evaluate their potential targeting to aminopeptidase N receptors expressed on tumor endothelial cells and the tumor cell surface and its anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo. NGR-PM-PTX was prepared by thin-film hydration method. The in vitro targeting characteristics of NGR-modified PM on HUVEC （human umbilical vein endothelial cells）, HT1080 （human fibrosarcoma cells） and MCF-7 （human breast adenocarcinoma cells） were then investigated. The anti-tumor activity of NGR-PM-PTX was evaluated in HT1080 tumor-bearing mice in vivo. The targeting activity of the NGR-modified PM was demonstrated by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy in vitro. NGR-PM-PTX also produced marked anti-tumor activity to HTI080 tumor-beating mice in vivo.
Mitochondria are increasingly recognized as important targets for tumor treatment because of their central roles in apoptotic pathways and cellular metabolism. Dichloroacetate （DCA）, a low molecular weight mitochondria-targeting agent, exhibits potential therapeutic effects for tumors. Based on the effects of DCA on tumor cellular metabolism, we carried out this study to investigate the anti-tumor activity of DCA in C6 glioma cells in vitro. The results showed that DCA was able to increase the activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase （PDH）, induce the production of reactive oxygen species （ROS） and reduce the mitochondrial membrane potential （MMP） in C6 ceils in vitro （P〈0.05 or 0.01）, indicating that the anti-tumor effects of DCA in C6 cells could be through the activation of the mitochondrial pathway. In conclusion, mitochondria could be a viable therapeutic target for the treatment of glioma.
