Efficient intravesical therapy of bladder cancer with cationic doxorubicin nanoassemblies

Abstract

Nanoparticles have promising applications in drug delivery for cancer therapy. Herein, we prepared cationic 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium propane/methoxypoly (ethyleneglycol) (DPP) nanoparticles to deliver doxorubicin (Dox) for intravesical therapy of bladder cancer. The DPP micelles have a mean dynamic diameter of 18.65 nm and a mean zeta potential of +19.6 mV. The DPP micelles could prolong the residence of Dox in the bladder, enhance the penetration of Dox into the bladder wall, and improve cellular uptake of Dox. The encapsulation by DPP micelles significantly improved the anticancer effect of Dox against orthotopic bladder cancer in vivo. This work described a Dox-loaded DPP nanoparticle with potential applications in intravesical therapy of bladder cancer.

Keywords:

• bladder cancer
• drug delivery
• nanoparticles
• intravesical therapy

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (81572990, 81422025, 81301907), the Foundation for Distinguished Young Scientists of Sichuan Province (2016JQ0020), and the Outstanding Young Scholars Research Fund of Sichuan University (2014SCU04A12). The authors would like to express their great thanks to Zhouli Cheng, Yuping Yang, Yujiao Wu, Tianyi Kang, and Ke Men. The authors thank Dr Tomoko Hayashi (Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA) for providing MB49 cells.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.