title: Targeted liposome-loaded microbubbles for cell-specific ultrasound-triggered drug delivery.
abstract: One of the main problems in cancer treatment is disease relapse through metastatic colonization, which is caused by circulating tumor cells (CTCs). This work reports on liposome-loaded microbubbles targeted to N-cadherin, a cell-cell adhesion molecule expressed by CTCs. It is shown that such microbubbles can indeed bind to N-cadherin at the surface of HMB2 cells. Interestingly, in a mixture of cells with and without N-cadherin expression, binding of the liposome-loaded microbubbles mainly occurs to the N-cadherin-expressing cells. Importantly, applying ultrasound results in the intracellular delivery of a model drug (loaded in the liposomes) in the N-cadherin-expressing cells only. As described in this paper, such liposome-loaded microbubbles may find application as theranostics and in devices aimed for the specific killing of CTCs in blood.
authors.affiliation: Ghent Research Group on Nanomedicines, Laboratory of General Biochemistry and Physical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Harelbekestraat 72, 9000 Ghent, Belgium, Tel: +32 9 264 80 76; Fax: +32 9 264 81 89.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Geers
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: De Wever
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Demeester
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bracke
authors.forename: Stefaan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: De Smedt
authors.forename: Ine
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lentacker
mesh_terms: D015820:Cadherins / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008081:Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry*; D045423:Microbubbles
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D008081:Liposomes
keywords: N-cadherin; drug delivery; liposomes; microbubbles; ultrasound