On the hypoxic tumor targeting ability of two chitosan micelles loaded with oil-soluble CdSe quantum dots

Abstract

Hypoxia, an outstanding characteristic of various solid tumors, has been considered a critical factor of aggressive tumor phenotypes, poor clinical prognosis, and increased expression of the multidrug-resistant gene. Therefore, it is critical to develop a drug delivery system to enhance the delivery effect of the antitumor drug in the hypoxic tumor. We constructed two types of tumor targeting micelles based on chitosan and evaluated their properties in targeting hypoxic tumors. Chitosan-based micelles consisted of a hydrophobic group octyl group, a hydrophilic polyethylene glycol, tumor targeting ligands glucosamine or folic acid, and a transmembrane peptide 9-d-arginine. The molecular structure, morphology, size distribution, zeta potential, and biosafety of two micelles were characterized. Oil-soluble CdSe quantum dots were used as a fluorescent probe to evaluate the hypoxic tumor cell targeting properties of the micelles. Moreover, HepG2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells and HeLa human cervical carcinoma cells were used as in vitro models. We demonstrated that, under hypoxic conditions, two chitosan micelles showed better targeting ability to HepG2 and HeLa cells, which enhanced the effect of antitumor drugs by specifically targeting transport in hypoxic tumors. Therefore, chitosan micelles may be a potential drug delivery system that can be used to deliver antitumor drugs to hypoxic tumors.

Keywords:

• Chitosan
• folic acid
• glucosamine
• hypoxic tumor
• quantum dots

Disclosure statement

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC81202467), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province in China (BK2012232), the Natural Science Research Project of Universities in Jiangsu Province of China (11KJB350004, 15KJD350002), the Science and Technology Projects of Nantong City (MS12015064), and the Jiangsu college students innovative entrepreneurship training key program (201710304039Z).