Aptamer conjugated theragnostic multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles as a nanoplatform for pancreatic cancer therapy

作者：Sivakumar Balasubramanian; Aswathy Ravindran Girija; Nagaoka Yutaka; Iwai Seiki; Venugopal Kizhikkilot; Kato Kazunori; Yoshida Yasuhiko; Maekawa Toru; Kumar Dasappan Nair Sakthi^*

来源：RSC Advances, 2013, 3(43): 20579-20598.

DOI：10.1039/c3ra42645a

Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide. Currently, finding an effective drug delivery strategy in pancreatic cancer treatment is a major challenge. Nanotechnology offers an indispensible function by precisely delivering anticancer therapeutics in a targeted method to the cancer specific cells thus sparing normal healthy cells and hence resulting in an enhanced efficiency. The development of designer multifunctional therapeutics with magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) is a promising approach to selectively deliver therapeutics and image them in cancer cells. This study explored the preparation, characterization and application of a targeted nanosystem represented by an aptamer conjugated dual drug (curcumin and gemcitabine-loaded) and MNP encapsulated PLGA nanoparticles (Apt-Cur-Gem-PLGA-MNPs) for pancreatic cancer therapy. The aptamer targeted NPs exhibited excellent antiproliferative activity leading to apoptosis owing to enhanced cellular uptake. The presence of MNP in the nanoconjugate was exploited for magnetic hyperthermia and magnetic ablation of cancer cells by a rotating magnetic field. Thus, Apt-Cur-Gem-PLGA-MNPs is able to deliver an effective and targeted delivery of therapeutics for pancreatic cancer treatment.

• 出版日期2013