International Journal of Nanomedicine (Jun 2017)

NIR responsive liposomal system for rapid release of drugs in cancer therapy

  • Chen MM,
  • Liu YY,
  • Su GH,
  • Song FF,
  • Liu Y,
  • Zhang QQ

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 12
pp. 4225 – 4239

Abstract

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Ming-Mao Chen,1 Yuan-Yuan Liu,1 Guang-Hao Su,2 Fei-Fei Song,1 Yan Liu,3 Qi-Qing Zhang1,4 1Institute of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technology, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 2Institute of Pediatric Research, Children’s Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, 3State Key Lab of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, 4Key Laboratory of Biomedical Material of Tianjin, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Medical Science & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China Abstract: To design a rapid release liposomal system for cancer therapy, a NIR responsive bubble-generating thermosensitive liposome (BTSL) system combined with photothermal agent (Cypate), doxorubicin (DOX), and NH4HCO3 was developed. Cypate/DOX-BTSL exhibited a good aqueous stability, photostability, and photothermal effect. In vitro release suggested that the amounts of DOX released from BTSL were obviously higher than that of (NH4)2SO4 liposomes at 42°C. After NIR irradiation, the hyperthermic temperature induced by Cypate led to the decomposition of NH4HCO3 and the generation of a large number of CO2 bubbles, triggering a rapid release of drugs. Confocal laser scanning microscope and acridine orange staining indicated that Cypate/DOX-BTSL upon irradiation could facilitate to disrupt the lysosomal membranes and realize endolysosomal escape into cytosol, improving the intracellular uptake of DOX clearly. MTT and trypan blue staining implied that the cell damage of Cypate/DOX-BTSL with NIR irradiation was more severe than that in the groups without irradiation. In vivo results indicated that Cypate/DOX-BTSL with irradiation could dramatically increase the accumulation of DOX in tumor, inhibit tumor growth, and reduce systemic side effects of DOX. These data demonstrated that Cypate/DOX-BTSL has the potential to be used as a NIR responsive liposomal system for a rapid release of drugs in thermochemotherapy. Keywords: NIR responsive, thermoresponsive liposome, triggered drug release, bubble-generating, thermochemotherapy

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