Delivery of therapeutic agents by nanoparticles made of grapefruit-derived lipids

作者：Wang, Qilong; Zhuang, Xiaoying; Mu, Jingyao; Deng, Zhong-Bin; Jiang, Hong; Xiang, Xiaoyu; Wang, Baomei; Yan, Jun; Miller, Donald; Zhang, Huang-Ge^*

来源：Nature Communications, 2013, 4(1): 1867.

DOI：10.1038/ncomms2886

• DRUG-DELIVERY
• T-CELLS
• EXOSOMES
• CANCER
• PHARMACOKINETICS
• CHEMOTHERAPY
• SYSTEMS
• BRAIN
• RNA

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.

• 出版日期2013-5