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Abstract
Cancer nanotherapeutics are changing the landscape of tumor treatment and used to circumvent limitations of conventional chemotherapy, such as non-specificity and low bioavailability. Reconstituted high density lipoproteins (rHDL) system is one of the most promising targeting delivery systems of chemotherapeutic drugs toward tumors. Here, we developed recombined high-density lipoprotein which can be functionalized to deliver doxorubicin intracellular with a higher efficiency. The cellular viability assay showed that the rHDL/Dox nanovectors had an enhanced efficiency in inhibiting the cell viability of hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines HepG2 and SMMC-7721. FACS and confocal microscopy was used to observe the doxorubicin delivery into cancer cells. Intracellular drug accumulation analysis confirmed that treatment of rHDL/Dox nanovectors resulted in higher intracellular doxorubicin concentration to the levels exceeding that of free drug. On the premise of efficient drug delivery, rHDL/Dox nanovectors have been preliminarily demonstrated effective inducing of cytotoxic effect and cell apoptosis to both of the cell lines in vitro. Tissue distribution experiment showed that rHDL/Dox nanovectors could also deliver doxorubicin to liver effectively. So, we proposed that this lipoprotein-based strategy holds promise for a safer and more efficient delivery of chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.