Development and characterization of folic acid-functionalized apoferritin as a delivery vehicle for epirubicin against MCF-7 breast cancer cells

• Published in: Artificial cells, nanomedicine, and biotechnology Vol. 46; no. S3; pp. 847 - 854
• Main Authors: Gomhor J. Alqaraghuli, Hasanain, Kashanian, Soheila, Rafipour, Ronak, Mahdavian, Elahe, Mansouri, Kamran
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 01.01.2018; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Anticancer properties; Apoferritin; Apoferritins - chemistry; Apoferritins - pharmacokinetics; Apoferritins - pharmacology; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Cancer; Circular dichroism; Dichroism; Dismantling; Drug Carriers - chemistry; Drug Carriers - pharmacokinetics; Drug Carriers - pharmacology; Drug delivery; Drug delivery systems; Encapsulation; Endocytosis; Epirubicin; Epirubicin - chemistry; Epirubicin - pharmacokinetics; Epirubicin - pharmacology; Female; Fluorescence; Fluorescence spectroscopy; Folic acid; Folic Acid - chemistry; Folic Acid - pharmacokinetics; Folic Acid - pharmacology; Horse spleen apoferritin; Humans; MCF-7 Cells; pH effects; Spectrum analysis; Spleen; Structural analysis; targeted drug delivery; Toxicity; Transmission electron microscopy; Viability; encapsulation; epirubicin; targeted drug delivery; folic acid; Horse spleen apoferritin
• ISSN: 2169-1401; 2169-141X
• DOI: 10.1080/21691401.2018.1516671

Epirubicin (Epr) is an effective chemotherapeutic drug; however, the clinical amenability of Epr is limited by its highly toxic interaction with normal cells. This toxicity can be decreased by utilizing nanocarriers and targeted drug delivery systems. This work describes an approach for the delivery of Epr via encapsulation in the horse spleen apoferritin (HsAFr) cavity. The encapsulation was achieved by the disassembling of apoferritin into subunits at pH 2 followed by its reformation at pH 7.4 in the presence of Epr. The surface of HsAFr-encapsulated Epr was modified with folic acid (FA) for optimal targeting of breast cancer cells (MCF-7). The use of FA to functionalize HsAFr could enhance the cellular uptake efficiency via FA-receptor-mediated endocytosis. UV-vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized for structural characterization of the HsAFr-Epr and HsAFr-Epr-FA complexes. The comparison of the anti-cancer activities across the HsAFr-Epr-FA complex and the free Epr drug was performed using the MTT viability assay on MCF-7.