A
liposome system modified with
chlorotoxin (ClTx), a
scorpion venom peptide previously utilized for targeting
brain tumors, was established. Its targeting efficiency and antimetastasis behavior against metastatic
breast cancer highly expressed MMP-2, the receptor of ClTx, were investigated. 4T1, a metastatic
breast cancer cell line derived from a murine
breast tumor, was selected as the cell model. As results, the ClTx-modified
liposomes displayed specific binding to 4T1 as determined by flow cytometry and confocal imaging. The cytotoxicity assay revealed that the ClTx modification increased the toxicity compared with nonmodified
liposomes. In addition, the modified
liposomes also exhibited high in vivo targeting efficiency in the BALB/c mice bearing 4T1
tumors. Importantly, this system inhibited the growth of metastatic
tumor and prevented the incidence of lung
metastasis in mice bearing 4T1
tumors with only low systemic toxicity. The data obtained from the in vitro and in vivo studies confirmed that the ClTx-modified
liposomes increased the
drug delivery to metastatic breast
cancers. This study proved that the ClTx-modified
liposomes had targeting ability to metastatic
breast cancer in addition to
brain cancer, and displayed an obvious antimetastasis effect. Generally, it may provide a promising strategy for metastatic
breast cancer therapy.