Bauhinia purprea agglutinin (BPA) is a well-known lectin that recognizes galactosyl glycoproteins and glycolipids. In the present study, we firstly found that BPA bound to human prostate cancer specimens but not to normal prostate ones.
Therefore, we sought to develop BPA-PEG-modified liposomes (BPA-PEG-LP) encapsulating anticancer drugs for the treatment of prostate cancer. We examined the tumor targetability of BPA-PEG-LP with human prostate cancer DU145 cells, and observed that fluorescently labeled BPA-PEG-LP dominantly associated with the cells via the interaction between liposome-surface BPA and cell-surface galactosyl molecules. We also observed that BPA-PEG-LP accumulated in the prostate cancer tissue after the intravenous injection to DU145 solid cancer-bearing mice, and strongly bound to the cancer cells. In a therapeutic study, DU145 solid cancer-bearing mice were intravenously injected thrice with BPA-PEG-LP encapsulating doxorubicin (BPA-PEG-LPDOX, 2 mg/kg/day as the DOX dosage) or PEG-modified liposomes encapsulating DOX (PEG-LPDOX). As a result, BPA-PEG-LPDOX significantly suppressed the growth of the DU145 cancer cells, whereas PEG-LPDOX at the same dosage as DOX showed little anti-cancer effect. The present study suggested that BPA-PEG-LP could be a useful drug carrier for the treatment of human prostate cancers. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Cancer science. 2015 Oct 23 [Epub ahead of print]
Keisuke Ikemoto, Kosuke Shimizu, Kento Ohashi, Yoshihito Takeuchi, Motohiro Shimizu, Naoto Oku
Department of Medical Biochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, 52-1 Yada, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka, 422-8526, Japan. , Department of Medical Biochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, 52-1 Yada, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka, 422-8526, Japan. , Department of Medical Biochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, 52-1 Yada, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka, 422-8526, Japan. , Department of Medical Biochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, 52-1 Yada, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka, 422-8526, Japan. , Sugiyama Chemical and Industrial Laboratory, 11 Kagetori-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 245-0064, Japan. , Department of Medical Biochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, 52-1 Yada, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka, 422-8526, Japan.