EGF-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes for targeting delivery of etoposide

• Published in: Nanotechnology Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 045104 - 1-12
• Main Authors: Chen, Cheng, Xie, Xiao-Xia, Zhou, Qian, Zhang, Feng-Yi, Wang, Qiao-Ling, Liu, Ya-Qing, Zou, Yina, Tao, Qing, Ji, Xue-Mei, Yu, Shu-Qin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England IOP Publishing 03.02.2012
• Subjects: Adenosine triphosphate; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; Binding, Competitive - drug effects; Carbon; Cell Death - drug effects; Cell Line, Tumor; Dispersions; Drug delivery systems; Drug Delivery Systems - methods; Drugs; Epidermal Growth Factor - pharmacology; Etoposide - pharmacology; Humans; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Nanotubes, Carbon - chemistry; Nanotubes, Carbon - ultrastructure; Single wall carbon nanotubes; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; Spectrum Analysis, Raman; Thermodynamics
• ISSN: 0957-4484; 1361-6528
• DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/23/4/045104

To enhance the therapeutic potential of etoposide (ETO), we devised a targeted drug delivery system (TDDS) of epidermal growth factor-chitosan-carboxyl single-walled carbon nanotubes-ETO (EGF/CHI/SWNT-COOHs/ETO) using modified SWNTs (m-SWNTs) as the carrier, EGF-functionalized SWNTs (f-SWNTs) as the targeted moiety and ETO as the drug. After SWNT-COOHs were conjugated with CHI (CHI/SWNT-COOHs/ETO), they displayed high solubility and stable dispersion in aqueous solution. The drug loading capacity was approximately 25-27%. The m-SWNTs and f-SWNTs had only slight cytotoxicity. ETO was released from EGF/CHI/SWNT-COOHs/ETO at low pH and taken up by tumour cells via adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-dependent endocytosis. The cell death induced by EGF/CHI/SWNT-COOHs/ETO was as much as 2.7 times that due to ETO alone. In summary, these results demonstrated that our TDDS had a greater anticancer effect than free ETO in vitro.