Abstract
BackgroundThe rationale of this study is to combine the merits of both albumin nanoparticles and quantum dots (QDs) in improved drug tumor accumulation and strong fluorescence imaging capability into one carrier. However, premature drug release from protein nanoparticles and high toxicity of QDs due to heavy metal leakage are among challenging hurdles. Following this platform, we developed cancer nano-theranostics by coupling biocompatible albumin backbone to CdTe QDs and mannose moieties to enhance tumor targeting and reduce QDs toxicity. The chemotherapeutic water soluble drug pemetrexed (PMT) was conjugated via tumor-cleavable bond to the albumin backbone for tumor site-specific release. In combination, the herbal hydrophobic drug resveratrol (RSV) was preformulated as phospholipid complex which enabled its physical encapsulation into albumin nanoparticles.ResultsAlbumin–QDs theranostics showed enhanced cytotoxicity and internalization into breast cancer cells that could be traced by virtue of their high fluorescence quantum yield and excellent imaging capacity. In vivo, the nanocarriers demonstrated superior anti-tumor effects including reduced tumor volume, increased apoptosis, and inhibited angiogenesis in addition to non-immunogenic response. Moreover, in vivo bioimaging test demonstrated excellent tumor-specific accumulation of targeted nanocarriers via QDs-mediated fluorescence.ConclusionMannose-grafted strategy and QD-fluorescence capability were beneficial to deliver albumin nanocarriers to tumor tissues and then to release the anticancer drugs for killing cancer cells as well as enabling tumor imaging facility. Overall, we believe albumin–QDs nanoplatform could be a potential nano-theranostic for bioimaging and targeted breast cancer therapy.
Highlights
The rationale of this study is to combine the merits of both albumin nanoparticles and quantum dots (QDs) in improved drug tumor accumulation and strong fluorescence imaging capability into one carrier
Bovine serum albumin (BSA)-QDs bovine serum albumin nanoparticles (NPs) for dual delivery of RSV and PMT were developed for breast cancer therapy and imaging (Fig. 1)
Characterization of the synthesized CdTe QDs CdTe QDs are characterized by their strong fluorescence enabling their use in cancer imaging
Summary
The rationale of this study is to combine the merits of both albumin nanoparticles and quantum dots (QDs) in improved drug tumor accumulation and strong fluorescence imaging capability into one carrier. Premature drug release from protein nanoparticles and high toxicity of QDs due to heavy metal leakage are among challenging hurdles. Following this platform, we developed cancer nano-theranostics by coupling biocompatible albumin backbone to CdTe QDs and mannose moieties to enhance tumor targeting and reduce QDs toxicity. Quantum dots (QDs) as new imaging probes, 2–10 nm in diameter They possess strong photoluminescence (PL) with a high molar extinction coefficient values compared with organic dyes in addition to broad absorption with narrow symmetric emission spectra. Researchers are paying more effort to decreasing toxicity of the highly fluorescent Cd-containing QDs
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