The treatment of cerebral
tumor, especially advanced
gliomas, represents one of the most formidable challenges in oncology. In this study,
integrin-mediated
poly(trimethylene carbonate)-based nanoparticulate system (c(RGDyK)-NP) was proposed as a delivery vehicle for enhancing
drug penetration and
chemotherapy of
malignant gliomas. Following the recognition by
integrin proteins on cell surface, c(RGDyK)-NP could be energy-dependently internalized by human U87MG
glioma cells through a multiple endocytic pathway. The
tumor penetration, homing specificity and anticancer efficacy of PTX-loaded c(RGDyK)-NP (c(RGDyK)-NP/PTX) were performed on the 3D
glioma spheroids, the U87MG
glioma cells and the intracranial
glioma mice model, respectively. Compared with conventional nanoparticles (NP/PTX) and
Taxol, c(RGDyK)-NP/PTX showed the strongest penetration and accumulation into 3D
glioma spheroids, an obvious microtubule stabilization effect to U87MG
glioma cells, a significant homing specificity to
malignant glioma in vivo, and an extended median survival time in the intracranial
glioma-bearing mice. Furthermore, preliminary in vivo subacute toxicity was also evaluated by measuring the histopathology, blood cell counts and clinical biochemistry parameters, and the results revealed no obvious subacute toxicity to hematological system, major organs or tissues were observed post successive
intravenous injection of c(RGDyK)-NP. Therefore, our results suggested that
cyclic RGD-conjugated PEG-PTMC nanoparticle could be a promising vehicle for enhancing the penetration and cxhemotherapy of high-grade
malignant gliomas.