Secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) cleave phospholipids at sn-2 ester bonds, releasing lysophospholipids and fatty acids, and are over expressed in several pathologies, including inflammation, arthritis, sepsis and breast and prostate cancers.
Herein we evaluated the therapeutic activity of liposomes engineered to be responsive to different sPLA2 isoforms compared to clinically used long-circulating (pegylated) sterically stabilized liposomes (SSL) in vitro and in vivo, and assessed differences in roles of sPLA2 in the mechanism of uptake and delivery of these nanoparticles. Exposing sPLA2 responsive liposomes (SPRL) to sPLA2 increased the release of intraluminal entrapped contents in a time-dependent manner that was inhibited by the sPLA2 inhibitor LY3117273. Treatment of prostate cancer cells with doxorubicin encapsulated in SSL and SPRL resulted in cytotoxicity in LNCaP, DU-145 and PC-3 cells lines comparable to free drug. Interestingly, cytotoxicity was not altered by sPLA2 inhibition. Tracking of drug and liposome delivery using fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry, we demonstrated that drug uptake was liposome-dependent, as encapsulation of doxorubicin in SPRL resulted in 1.5 to 2-fold greater intracellular drug levels compared to SSL. Liposome uptake was cell-dependent and did not correlate to doxorubicin uptake; however, doxorubicin uptake was generally greatest in PC-3 cells, followed by DU-145 cells and then LNCaP cells. In almost all cases, uptake of one of our formulations, SPRL-E, was greater than SSL. The therapeutic activity of SPRL in vivo was demonstrated using a mouse xenograft model of human prostate cancer, which showed that doxorubicin entrapped within SPRL decreased tumor growth compared to SSL, suggesting that SPRL are more effective at slowing tumor growth than a SSL formulation similar to the FDA approved DOXIL™. Collectively, these data show the therapeutic activity of SPRL compared to SSL, yield insights into the mechanisms of action of these nanoparticles and suggest that SPRL could be useful for treatment of other pathologies that over express sPLA(2).
Written by:
Mock JN, Costyn LJ, Wilding SL, Arnold RD, Cummings BS. Are you the author?
Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Georgia, 336 College of Pharmacy South, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
Reference: Integr Biol (Camb). 2012 Aug 13. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1039/C2IB20108A
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22890797
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