title: Intracellular drug delivery by genetically engineered high-density lipoprotein nanoparticles.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nascent high-density lipoprotein (HDL) capable of intracellularly delivering anticancer drugs was developed to potentiate antitumor activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Apolipoprotein A-I, a major component protein of HDL, was genetically fused to TAT peptide, a protein transduction domain. Nascent HDL was prepared with this mutant and phospholipids.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intracellular delivery of doxorubicin (DXR) by TAT-fused HDL was confirmed by confocal microscopy. Treatment of cancer cells with TAT-fused HDL-DXR complex resulted in enhanced growth inhibition. Furthermore, TAT-fused HDL-DXR complex suppressed tumor growth in mice more efficiently than HDL-DXR complex. No bodyweight loss was observed for the TAT complex. These results clearly demonstrate the usefulness of TAT fusion to nascent HDL to potentiate the antitumor activity of DXR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The genetic fusion of apoA-I with biologically active peptides potentially enables a simple assembly of biocompatible and versatile drug carriers.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Comprehensive Medical Science, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Wassana
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wijagkanalan
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashida
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsuchida
mesh_terms: D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D053758:Nanoparticles
chemical_list: D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL