title: pH-responsive Virus-like Nanoparticles with Enhanced Tumour-targeting Ligands for Cancer Drug Delivery.
abstract: Multifunctional nanocarriers harbouring specific targeting moieties and with pH-responsive properties offer great potential for targeted cancer therapy. Several synthetic drug carriers have been studied extensively as drug delivery systems but not much information is available on the application of virus-like nanoparticles (VLNPs) as multifunctional nanocarriers. Here, we describe the development of pH-responsive VLNPs, based on truncated hepatitis B virus core antigen (tHBcAg), displaying folic acid (FA) for controlled drug delivery. FA was conjugated to a pentadecapeptide containing nanoglue bound on tHBcAg nanoparticles to increase the specificity and efficacy of the drug delivery system. The tHBcAg nanoparticles loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) demonstrated a sustained drug release profile in vitro under tumour tissue conditions in a controlled manner and improved the uptake of DOX in colorectal cancer cells, leading to enhanced antitumour effects. This study demonstrated that DOX-PAA can be packaged into VLNPs without any modification of the DOX molecules, preserving the pharmacological activity of the loaded DOX. The nanoglue can easily be used to display a tumour-targeting molecule on the exterior surface of VLNPs and can bypass the laborious and time-consuming genetic engineering approaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Roya
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Biabanikhankahdani
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.|Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Noorjahan Banu Mohamed
authors.initials: NBM
authors.lastname: Alitheen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Kok Lian
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.|Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Wen Siang
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D018938:Caco-2 Cells; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D065546:Drug Liberation; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D019073:HT29 Cells; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; C006903:carbopol 940; D004317:Doxorubicin; D005492:Folic Acid