Irradiation Enhances the Ability of Monocytes as Nanoparticle Carrier for Cancer Therapy

PLoS One. 2015 Sep 29;10(9):e0139043. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139043. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The tumor-homing ability of monocytes renders them a potential cellular delivery system for alternative cancer therapies, although their migratory ability can be impaired following reagent uptake. Approaches that enhance monocyte tumor homing and promote their migration will improve the clinical value of these cells as cellular carriers. Previous studies have shown that irradiation (IR) can promote macrophage aggregation in hypoxic regions. To investigate whether IR enhances the infiltration of bone marrow-derived monocytes (BMDMs) into tumors, the infiltration of BMDMs from GFP-transgenic mice in a murine prostate adenocarcinoma TRAMP-C1 model was examined by fluorescence microscopy. IR did not increase the number of BMDMs that infiltrated initially, but did increase monocyte retention within IR-treated tumors for up to 2 weeks. We also showed that BMDMs can take up various imaging and therapeutic agents, although the mobility of BMDMs decreased with increasing load. When BMDMs were differentiated in IR-treated tumor-conditioned medium (IR-CM) in vitro, the nanoparticle load-mediated inhibition of migration was attenuated. These IR-CM-differentiated BMDMs delivered polymer vesicles encapsulating doxorubicin to radiation therapy (RT)-induced hypoxic tumor regions, and enhanced the efficacy of RT. The prolonged retention of monocytes within irradiated tumor tissues and the ability of IR-CM to enhance the migratory ability of cargo-laden BMDMs suggest that monocytes pre-conditioned by IR-CM can potentially act as cellular carriers for targeted therapy following conventional RT.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenocarcinoma / drug therapy
  • Adenocarcinoma / pathology*
  • Adenocarcinoma / radiotherapy
  • Animals
  • Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / administration & dosage
  • Cell Differentiation / drug effects
  • Cell Differentiation / radiation effects
  • Cell Movement / drug effects
  • Cell Movement / radiation effects
  • Culture Media, Conditioned / pharmacology*
  • Doxorubicin / administration & dosage*
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Immunoenzyme Techniques
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Monocytes / drug effects
  • Monocytes / pathology*
  • Monocytes / radiation effects
  • Nanoparticles / administration & dosage
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / radiotherapy

Substances

  • Antibiotics, Antineoplastic
  • Culture Media, Conditioned
  • Doxorubicin

Grants and funding

This work is supported by NSC 101-2627-N-007-001, NHRI-EX100-9827BI, and 102N2767E1 from the National Science Council, National Health Research Institute, and National Tsing Hua University, respectively, Taiwan, to Chi-Shiun Chiang, and CIRPG3D0141 and CMRPG3E1301 from Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital to Ji-Hong Hong. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.