Galactosylated poly(ethyleneglycol)-lithocholic Acid selectively kills hepatoma cells, while sparing normal liver cells.

Abstract

Delivering drugs selectively to cancer cells but not to nearby normal cells is a major obstacle in drug therapy. In this study, lithocholic acid (LCA), a potent anti-cancer drug, is converted to two forms of poly(ethyleneglycol) (PEG) conjugates, viz., PEG-LCA (PL) and lactobionic acid (LBA) conjugated PEG-LCA (LPL). The latter form contains a galactose ligand in LBA to target the hepatocytes. Both forms are self-assembled to form nanoparticle formulation, and they have high potency than LCA to kill HepG2 cancer cells, sparing normal LO2 cells. Besides, LPL has high specificity to mouse liver cells in vivo. Western blot results confirm that the cell death is occurred through apoptosis induced by LPL nanoparticles. In conclusion, the induction of apoptosis and cell death is much more efficient with LPL nanoparticles than LCA molecules.

• Authors: Nomundelger Gankhuyag, Bijay Singh, Sushila Maharjan, Yun-Jaie Choi, Chong-Su Cho, Myung-Haing Cho
• Journal: Macromolecular bioscience (Macromol Biosci) Vol. 15 Issue 6 Pg. 777-87 (Jun 2015) ISSN: 1616-5195 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 25657071 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Chemical References

• Polyethylene Glycols
• Lithocholic Acid
• polyethylene glycol 1000

Topics

• Animals
• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular (drug therapy, metabolism)
• Drug Delivery Systems (methods)
• Hep G2 Cells
• Hepatocytes (metabolism)
• Humans
• Lithocholic Acid (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Liver (metabolism)
• Liver Neoplasms (drug therapy, metabolism)
• Mice
• Polyethylene Glycols (chemistry, pharmacology)