title: Delivery of therapeutic agents by nanoparticles made of grapefruit-derived lipids.
abstract: Although the use of nanotechnology for the delivery of a wide range of medical treatments has potential to reduce adverse effects associated with drug therapy, tissue-specific delivery remains challenging. Here we show that nanoparticles made of grapefruit-derived lipids, which we call grapefruit-derived nanovectors, can deliver chemotherapeutic agents, short interfering RNA, DNA expression vectors and proteins to different types of cells. We demonstrate the in vivo targeting specificity of grapefruit-derived nanovectors by co-delivering therapeutic agents with folic acid, which in turn leads to significantly increasing targeting efficiency to cells expressing folate receptors. The therapeutic potential of grapefruit-derived nanovectors was further demonstrated by enhancing the chemotherapeutic inhibition of tumour growth in two tumour animal models. Grapefruit-derived nanovectors are less toxic than nanoparticles made of synthetic lipids and, when injected intravenously into pregnant mice, do not pass the placental barrier, suggesting that they may be a useful tool for drug delivery.
authors.affiliation: Louisville Veterans Administration Medical Center, Louisville, Kentucky 40206, USA.
authors.forename: Qilong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiaoying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Jingyao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.forename: Zhong-Bin
authors.initials: ZB
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Lifeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Baomei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Huang-Ge
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019921:Biotinylation; D002460:Cell Line; D032083:Citrus paradisi / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006413:Hematopoietic System / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D014018:Tissue Distribution / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D008055:Lipids; C086724:Lipofectamine