Frontiers in Chemistry (Nov 2019)

Antifouling and pH-Responsive Poly(Carboxybetaine)-Based Nanoparticles for Tumor Cell Targeting

  • Feng Ding,
  • Shuang Yang,
  • Zhiliang Gao,
  • Jianman Guo,
  • Peiyu Zhang,
  • Xiaoyong Qiu,
  • Qiang Li,
  • Mingdong Dong,
  • Jingcheng Hao,
  • Qun Yu,
  • Jiwei Cui,
  • Jiwei Cui

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2019.00770
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7

Abstract

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Nanocarriers with responsibility and surface functionality of targeting molecules have been widely used to improve therapeutic efficiency. Hence, we report the assembly of pH-responsive and targeted polymer nanoparticles (NPs) composed of poly(2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDPA) as the core and poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) (PCBMA) as the shell, functionalized with cyclic peptides containing Arginine-Glycine-Aspartic acid-D-Phenylalanine-Lysine (RGD). The resulting polymer NPs (PDPA@PCBMA-RGD NPs) can maintain the pH-responsivity of PDPA (pKa ~6.5) and low-fouling property of PCBMA that significantly resist non-specific interactions with RAW 264.7 and HeLa cells. Meanwhile, PDPA@PCBMA-RGD NPs could specifically target αvβ3 integrin-expressed human glioblastoma (U87) cells. The pH-responsiveness and low-fouling properties of PDPA@PCBMA NPs are comparable to PDPA@poly(ethylene glycol) (PDPA@PEG) NPs, which indicates that PCBMA is an alternative to PEG for low-fouling coatings. The advantage of PDPA@PCBMA NPs lies in the presence of carboxyl groups on their surfaces for further modification (e.g., RGD functionalization for cell targeting). The reported polymer NPs represent a new carrier that have the potential for targeted therapeutic delivery.

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