Poly(p-phenylenevinylene) nanoparticles modified with antiEGFRvIII for specific glioblastoma therapy

Abstract

Abstract Glioblastoma is the most common primary brain cancer and it is nearly impossible to remove the entire tumor with surgery or a single drug. EGFRvIII is the most frequent genetic change associated with glioblastoma, so EGFRvIII-based targeting therapies provide promise for treating glioblastoma. Herein, poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] (PPV) was used as the core to prepare a conjugated polymer nanoparticle (PPVN) modified with anti-EGFRvIII (PPVN-A) that exhibited high ROS generation ability under white light irradiation. PPVN-A could target EGFRvIII-overexpressed tumor cells and damaged more than 90% of tumor cells with the light illumination while PPVN without modification exhibited no obvious cytotoxicity toward these cells under the same condition. Thus, the photodynamic treatment of glioblastoma cells using PPVN-A could be achieved, indicating the potential of anti-EGFRvIII-modified nanoparticles as a therapeutic material for treating glioblastoma in clinic.