Quanyin Hu

Penetratin-functionalized PEG-PLA nanoparticles for brain drug delivery.

Nanoparticulate drug delivery system possesses distinct advantages for brain drug delivery. However, its amount that reach the brain is still not satisfied. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), short peptides that facilitate cellular uptake of various molecular cargo, would be appropriate candidates for facilitating brain delivery of nanoparticles. However, such effect could be deprived by the rapid systemic clearance of CPPs-functionalized nanoparticles due to their positive surface charge. Penetratin (CPP with relatively low content of basic amino acids) was here functionalized to poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactic acid) nanoparticles (NP) to achieve desirable pharmacokinetic and biodistribution profiles for brain drug delivery. The obtained penetratin-NP showed a particle size of 100 nm and zeta potential of -4.42 mV. The surface conjugation of penetratin was confirmed by surface chemical compositions analysis via X-ray photo electron spectroscopy. In MDCK-MDR cell model, penetratin-NP presented enhanced cellular accumulation via both lipid raft-mediated endocytosis and direct translocation processes with the involvement of Golgi apparatus, lysosome and microtubules. In vivo pharmacokinetic and biodistribution studies showed that penetratin-NP exhibited a significantly enhanced brain uptake and reduced accumulation in the non-target tissues compared with low-molecular-weight protamine (CPP with high arginine content)-functionalized nanoparticles. These data strongly implicated that penetratin-NP might represent a promising brain-targeting drug delivery system. The findings also provided an important basis for the optimization of brain drug delivery systems via surface charge modulation.

F3 peptide-functionalized PEG-PLA nanoparticles co-administrated with tLyp-1 peptide for anti-glioma drug delivery.

The development of a drug delivery strategy which can mediate efficient tumor targeting together with high cellular internalization and extensive vascular extravasation is essential and important for glioma treatment. To achieve this goal, F3 peptide that specifically bind to nucleolin, which is highly expressed on the surface of both glioma cells and endothelial cells of glioma angiogenic blood vessels, is utilized to decorate a nanoparticulate drug delivery system to realize glioma cell and neovasculature dual-targeting and efficient cellular internalization. Tumor homing and penetrating peptide, tLyp-1 peptide, which contains the motif of (R/K)XX(R/K) and specially binds to neuropilin is co-administrated to improve the penetration of the nanoparticles across angiogenic vasculature into glioma parenchyma. The F3 conjugation via a maleimide-thiol coupling reaction was confirmed by XPS analysis with 1.03% nitrogen detected on the surface of the functionalized nanoparticles. Enhanced cellular interaction with C6 cells, improved penetration in 3D multicell tumor spheroids, and increased cytotoxicity of the loaded paclitaxel were achieved by the F3-functionalized nanoparticles (F3-NP). Following co-administration with tLyp-1 peptide, F3-NP displayed enhanced accumulation at the tumor site and deep penetration into the glioma parenchyma and achieved the longest survival in mice bearing intracranial C6 glioma. The findings here clearly indicated that the strategy by co-administrating a tumor homing and penetrating peptide with functionalized nanoparticles dual-targeting both glioma cells and neovasculature could significantly improve the anti-glioma drug delivery, which also hold a great promise for chemotherapy of other hard-to-cure cancers.

Low molecular weight protamine-functionalized nanoparticles for drug delivery to the brain after intranasal administration.

The development of new strategies for enhancing drug delivery to the brain is of great importance in diagnostics and therapeutics of central nervous diseases. Low-molecular-weight protamine (LMWP) as a cell-penetrating peptide possesses distinct advantages including high cell translocation potency, absence of toxicity of peptide itself, and the feasibility as an efficient carrier for delivering therapeutics. Therefore, it was hypothesized that brain delivery of nanoparticles conjugated with LMWP should be efficiently enhanced following intranasal administration. LMWP was functionalized to the surface of PEG-PLA nanoparticles (NP) via a maleimide-mediated covalent binding procedure. Important parameters such as particle size distribution, zeta potential and surface content were determined, which confirmed the conjugation of LMWP to the surface of nanoparticle. Using 16HBE14o- cells as the cell model, LMWP-NP was found to exhibit significantly enhanced cellular accumulation than that of unmodified NP via both lipid raft-mediated endocytosis and direct translocation processes without causing observable cytotoxic effects. Following intranasal administration of coumarin-6-loaded LMWP-NP, the AUC(0-8 h) of the fluorescent probe detected in the rat cerebrum, cerebellum, olfactory tract and olfactory bulb was found to be 2.03, 2.55, 2.68 and 2.82 folds, respectively, compared to that of coumarin carried by NP. Brain distribution analysis suggested LMWP-NP after intranasal administration could be delivered to the central nervous system along both the olfactory and trigeminal nerves pathways. The findings clearly indicated that the brain delivery of nanoparticles could be greatly facilitated by LMWP and the LMWP-functionalized nanoparticles appears as a effective and safe carrier for nose-to-brain drug delivery in potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

Glioma therapy using tumor homing and penetrating peptide-functionalized PEG–PLA nanoparticles loaded with paclitaxel

By taking advantage of the excessively upregulated expression of neuropilin (NRP) on the surface of both glioma cells and endothelial cells of angiogenic blood vessels, the ligand of NRP with high affinity - tLyp-1 peptide, which also contains a CendR motif ((R/K)XX(R/K)), was functionalized to the surface of PEG-PLA nanoparticles (tLyp-1-NP) to mediate its tumor homing, vascular extravasation and deep penetration into the glioma parenchyma. The tLyp-1-NP was prepared via a maleimide-thiol coupling reaction with uniformly spherical shape under TEM and particle size of 111.30 ± 15.64 nm. tLyp-1-NP exhibited enhanced cellular uptake in both human umbilical vein endothelial cells and Rat C6 glioma cells, increased cytotoxicity of the loaded PTX, and improved penetration and growth inhibition in avascular C6 glioma spheroids. Selective accumulation and deep penetration of tLyp-1-NP at the glioma site was confirmed by in vivo imaging and glioma distribution analysis. The longest survival was achieved by those mice bearing intracranial C6 glioma treated with PTX-loaded tLyp-1-NP. The findings here strongly indicate that tLyp-1 peptide-functionalized nanoparticulate DDS could significantly improve the efficacy of paclitaxel glioma therapy.

The influence of the penetrating peptide iRGD on the effect of paclitaxel-loaded MT1-AF7p-conjugated nanoparticles on glioma cells

Low permeability across the blood-brain tumor barrier (BTB) and poor penetration into the glioma parenchyma represent key obstacles for anti-glioblastoma drug delivery. In this study, MT1-AF7p peptide, which presents high binding affinity to membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) that over-expressed on both angiogenic blood vessels and glioma cells, was employed to decorate the paclitaxel-loaded PEG-PLA nanoparticles (MT1-NP-PTX) to mediate glioblastoma targeting. Tumor-homing and penetrating peptide iRGD was co-administrated to further facilitate nanoparticles extravasation from the tumor vessels and penetration into the glioma parenchyma. MT1-NP-PTX showed satisfactory encapsulated efficiency, loading capacity and size distribution. In C6 glioma cells, MT1-NP was found to exhibit significantly enhanced cellular accumulation than that of unmodified NP via both energy-dependent macropinocytosis and lipid raft-mediated endocytosis. The anti-proliferative and apoptosis-induction activity of PTX was significantly enhanced following its encapsulation in MT1-NP. In vivo imaging and glioma distribution together confirmed that MT1-AF7p functionalization and iRGD co-administration significantly improved the nanoparticles extravasation across BTB and accumulation in glioma parenchyma. Furthermore, in vitro C6 glioma spheroid assays evidenced that MT1-NP effectively penetrated into the glioma spheroids and significantly improved the growth inhibitory effects of loaded PTX on glioma spheroids. More importantly, the median survival time of those nude mice bearing intracranial C6 glioma received MT1-NP-PTX and iRGD combination regimen was 60 days, significantly longer than that of other groups. The findings suggested that the BTB/glioma cells dual-targeting DDS co-administrated with iRGD peptide might provide a both practical and feasible solution to highly efficient anti-glioblastoma drug delivery.

Lipoprotein-Based Nanoparticles Rescue the Memory Loss of Mice with Alzheimer’s Disease by Accelerating the Clearance of Amyloid-Beta

Amyloid-beta (Aβ) accumulation in the brain is believed to play a central role in Alzheimers disease (AD) pathogenesis, and the common late-onset form of AD is characterized by an overall impairment in Aβ clearance. Therefore, development of nanomedicine that can facilitate Aβ clearance represents a promising strategy for AD intervention. However, previous work of this kind was concentrated at the molecular level, and the disease-modifying effectiveness of such nanomedicine has not been investigated in clinically relevant biological systems. Here, we hypothesized that a biologically inspired nanostructure, apolipoprotein E3-reconstituted high density lipoprotein (ApoE3-rHDL), which presents high binding affinity to Aβ, might serve as a novel nanomedicine for disease modification in AD by accelerating Aβ clearance. Surface plasmon resonance, transmission electron microscopy, and co-immunoprecipitation analysis showed that ApoE3-rHDL demonstrated high binding affinity to both Aβ monomer and oligomer. It also accelerated the microglial, astroglial, and liver cell degradation of Aβ by facilitating the lysosomal transport. One hour after intravenous administration, about 0.4% ID/g of ApoE3-rHDL gained access to the brain. Four-week daily treatment with ApoE3-rHDL decreased Aβ deposition, attenuated microgliosis, ameliorated neurologic changes, and rescued memory deficits in an AD animal model. The findings here provided the direct evidence of a biomimetic nanostructure crossing the blood-brain barrier, capturing Aβ and facilitating its degradation by glial cells, indicating that ApoE3-rHDL might serve as a novel nanomedicine for disease modification in AD by accelerating Aβ clearance, which also justified the concept that nanostructures with Aβ-binding affinity might provide a novel nanoplatform for AD therapy.

CGKRK-modified nanoparticles for dual-targeting drug delivery to tumor cells and angiogenic blood vessels

Antiangiogenic therapy shows great advantages in clinical cancer treatment while no overall survival has been achieved. The compromised results were mainly contributed by intrinsic/acquired antiangiogenic drug resistance and increased local invasion or distant metastasis after antiangiogenic therapy. Here we constructed a CGKRK peptide-modified PEG-co-PCL nanoparticulate drug delivery system (DDS), aiming at targeting both tumor angiogenic blood vessels and tumor cells to achieve enhanced anti-tumor activity as well as holding a great potential to overcome the drawbacks of antiangiogenic therapy alone. The obtained CGKRK-functionalized PEG-co-PCL nanoparticles (CGKRK-NP) with a particle size of 117.28 ± 10.42 nm and zeta potential of -15.7 ± 3.32 mV, exhibited an enhanced accumulation via an energy-dependent, lipid raft/caveolae-mediated endocytosis with the involvement of microtubules in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and an energy-dependent, lipid raft/caveolae-mediated endocytosis with the participation of Golgi apparatus in human U87MG cells. Using coumarin-6 as the fluorescence probe, in vitro U87MG tumor spheroids assays showed that CGKRK-NP effectively penetrated into the tumor spheroids. Selective accumulation and extensive bio-distribution of CGKRK-NP at tumor site was confirmed by in vivo imaging and tumor section analysis. After drug loading, CGKRK-NP enhanced cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction activity of the loaded PTX on both HUVEC cells and U87MG cells and improved its inhibition effect on the growth of U87MG tumor spheroids. The smallest tumor volume was achieved by those mice bearing subcutaneous U87MG tumor following the treatment of PTX-loaded CGKRK-NP. The findings here indicated that CGKRK peptide-functionalized nanoparticulate DDS could be used as an effective tumor angiogenic blood vessels and tumor cells dual-targeting DDS and might provide a great promising approach for reducing the disadvantages of antiangiogenic therapy alone.

B6 peptide-modified PEG-PLA nanoparticles for enhanced brain delivery of neuroprotective peptide.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB), which is formed by the brain capillary wall, greatly hinders the development of new drugs for the brain. Over the past decades, among the various receptor-mediated endogenous BBB transport systems, the strategy of using transferrin or anti-transferrin receptor antibodies to facilitate brain drug delivery system is of particular interest. However, the application of large proteins still suffers from the drawbacks including synthesis procedure, stability, and immunological response. Here, we explored a B6 peptide discovered by phase display as a substitute for transferrin, and conjugated it to PEG-PLA nanoparticles (NP) with the aim of enhancing the delivery of neuroprotective drug across the BBB for the treatment of Alzheimers disease. B6-modified NP (B6-NP) exhibited significantly higher accumulation in brain capillary endothelial cells via lipid raft-mediated and clathrin-mediated endocytosis. In vivo, fluorescently labeled B6-NP exhibited much higher brain accumulation when compared with NP. Administration of B6-NP encapsulated neuroprotective peptide-NAPVSIPQ (NAP)-to Alzheimers disease mouse models showed excellent amelioration in learning impairments, cholinergic disruption, and loss of hippocampal neurons even at lower dose. These findings together suggested that B6-NP might serve as a promising DDS for facilitating the brain delivery of neuropeptides.

Lipid-based liquid crystalline nanoparticles as oral drug delivery vehicles for poorly water-soluble drugs: cellular interaction and in vivo absorption

Background Lipid-based liquid crystalline nanoparticles (LCNPs) have attracted growing interest as novel drug-delivery systems for improving the bioavailability of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. However, their cellular interaction and in vivo behavior have not been fully developed and characterized. Methods In this study, self-assembled LCNPs prepared from soy phosphatidylcholine and glycerol dioleate were developed as a platform for oral delivery of paclitaxel. The particle size of empty LCNPs and paclitaxel-loaded LCNPs was around 80 nm. The phase behavior of the liquid crystalline matrix was characterized using crossed polarized light microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering, and showed both reversed cubic and hexagonal phase in the liquid crystalline matrix. Transmission electron microscopy and cryofield emission scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed an inner winding water channel in LCNPs and a “ ball-like”/“hexagonal” morphology. Results Cellular uptake of LCNPs in Caco-2 cells was found to be concentration-dependent and time-dependent, with involvement of both clathrin and caveolae/lipid raft-mediated endocytosis. Under confocal laser scanning microscopy, soy phosphatidylcholine was observed to segregate from the internalized LCNPs and to fuse with the cell membrane. An in vivo pharmacokinetic study showed that the oral bioavailability of paclitaxel-loaded LCNPs (13.16%) was 2.1 times that of Taxol® (the commercial formulation of paclitaxel, 6.39%). Conclusion The findings of this study suggest that this LCNP delivery system may be a promising candidate for improving the oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble agents.

iNGR-modified PEG-PLGA nanoparticles that recognize tumor vasculature and penetrate gliomas.

A major cross-cutting problem for glioma therapy is the poor extravasation and penetration of the payload drug in target glioma parenchyma. Here, to overcome these obstacles, a tumor vessel recognizing and tumor penetrating system is developed by functionalizating the poly (ethyleneglycol)-poly (L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles with an iNGR moiety (iNGR-NP). The nanoparticulate formulation is expected to achieve specific deep penetration in the tumor tissue by initially binding to aminopeptidase N, with iNGR proteolytically cleaved to CRNGR, and then bind with neuropilin-1 to mediate deep penetration in the tumor parenchyma. iNGR-NP exhibits significantly enhanced cellular uptake in human umbilical vein endothelial cells, improves the anti-proliferation and anti-tube formation abilities of paclitaxel in vitro. Following intravenous administration, iNGR-NP present favorable pharmacokinetic and tumor homing profiles. Glioma distribution and penetration assays confirm that iNGR-NP achieve the highest accumulation and deepest penetration at the glioma sites. The anti-glioma efficacy of paclitaxel-loaded iNGR-NP is verified by its improved anti-angiogenesis activity and the significantly prolonged survival time in mice bearing intracranial glioma. These evidences highlight the potential of iNGR-decorated nanoparticles in overcoming the leading edge problem in anti-glioma drug delivery.