Alendronate-Grafted Nanoemulsions for Bone-Targeted Vincristine Delivery: Preliminary Studies on Cell and Animal Models
Ian Stoppa,
Chiara Dianzani,
Nausicaa Clemente,
Annalisa Bozza,
Valentina Bordano,
Sara Garelli,
Luigi Cangemi,
Umberto Dianzani,
Luigi Battaglia
Affiliations
Ian Stoppa
Department of Health Sciences, Interdisciplinary Research Center of Autoimmune Diseases (IRCAD), University of Eastern Piedmont (UPO), via Solaroli 17, 28100 Novara, Italy
Chiara Dianzani
Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, via Pietro Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy
Nausicaa Clemente
Department of Health Sciences, Interdisciplinary Research Center of Autoimmune Diseases (IRCAD), University of Eastern Piedmont (UPO), via Solaroli 17, 28100 Novara, Italy
Annalisa Bozza
Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, via Pietro Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy
Valentina Bordano
Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, via Pietro Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy
Sara Garelli
Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, via Pietro Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy
Luigi Cangemi
Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, via Pietro Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy
Umberto Dianzani
Department of Health Sciences, Interdisciplinary Research Center of Autoimmune Diseases (IRCAD), University of Eastern Piedmont (UPO), via Solaroli 17, 28100 Novara, Italy
Luigi Battaglia
Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin, via Pietro Giuria 9, 10125 Turin, Italy
Bone is a site of distant metastases, which are a common cause of morbidity and mortality with a high socio-economic impact, for many malignant tumours. In order to engineer pharmacological therapies that are suitable for this debilitating disease, this experimental work presents injectable lipid nanoemulsions, which are endowed with a long history of safe clinical usage in parenteral nutrition, their loading with vincristine and their grafting with alendronate, with a dual purpose: merging the anticancer activity of bisphosphonates and vincristine, and enhancing bone-targeted delivery. In cell studies, alendronate synergised with the anti-migration activity of vincristine, which is important as migration plays a key role in the metastatisation process. In preliminary animal studies, carried out thanks to IVIS technology, alendronate conjugation enhanced the bone targeting of fluorescently labelled nanoemulsions. These encouraging results will drive further studies on suitable animal models of the disease.
