Gemcitabine and Chlorotoxin Conjugated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Glioblastoma Therapy

Qingxin Mu; Guanyou Lin; Victoria K Patton; Kui Wang; Oliver W Press; Miqin Zhang

doi:10.1039/C5TB02123E

Gemcitabine and Chlorotoxin Conjugated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Glioblastoma Therapy

J Mater Chem B. 2016 Jan 7;4(1):32-36. doi: 10.1039/C5TB02123E. Epub 2015 Nov 24.

Authors

Qingxin Mu¹, Guanyou Lin², Victoria K Patton³, Kui Wang⁴, Oliver W Press⁵, Miqin Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA; Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, Seattle, Washington, 98109, USA.
² Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA.
⁵ Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, Seattle, Washington, 98109, USA.

Abstract

Many small-molecule anti-cancer drugs have short blood half-lives and toxicity issues due to non-specificity. Nanotechnology has shown great promise in addressing these issues. Here, we report the development of an anti-cancer drug gemcitabine-conjugated iron oxide nanoparticle for glioblastoma therapy. A glioblastoma targeting peptide, chlorotoxin, was attached after drug conjugation. The nanoparticle has a small size (~32 nm) and uniform size distribution (PDI ≈ 0.1), and is stable in biological medium. The nanoparticle effectively enter cancer cells without losing potency compared to free drug. Significantly, the nanoparticle showed a prolonged blood half-life and the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier in wild type mice.

Abstract

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