Polybutylcyanoacrylate nanoparticles as novel vectors in cancer gene therapy

Zhang, Yangde; Zhang, Yanqiong; Chen, Jiji; Zhang, Binghua; Pan, Yifeng; Ren, Lifeng; Zhao, Jinfen; Luo, Yulin; Zhai, Denggao; Wang, Shunwei; Wang, Jiwei

doi:10.1016/j.nano.2007.01.004

« Previous Next »Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine
Volume 3, Issue 2 , Pages 144-153, June 2007

Polybutylcyanoacrylate nanoparticles as novel vectors in cancer gene therapy

Yangde Zhang, MD, PhD
- National Hepatobiliary and Enteric Surgery Research Center, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- The first two authors contributed equally to this article.
Yanqiong Zhang, MD
- National Key Laboratory of Nanobiological Technology, Ministry of Health, Changsha, Hunan, China
- The first two authors contributed equally to this article.
Jiji Chen, MD
- National Key Laboratory of Nanobiological Technology, Ministry of Health, Changsha, Hunan, China
Binghua Zhang, MD
- Department of Microbiology, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, China
Yifeng Pan, PhD
- National Key Laboratory of Nanobiological Technology, Ministry of Health, Changsha, Hunan, China
Lifeng Ren, MD
- Biomedical Engineering Institute of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
Jinfen Zhao, PhD
- National Hepatobiliary and Enteric Surgery Research Center, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
Yulin Luo, PhD
- National Key Laboratory of Nanobiological Technology, Ministry of Health, Changsha, Hunan, China
Denggao Zhai, PhD
- National Hepatobiliary and Enteric Surgery Research Center, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
Shunwei Wang, PhD
- National Key Laboratory of Nanobiological Technology, Ministry of Health, Changsha, Hunan, China
Jiwei Wang, PhD
- National Key Laboratory of Nanobiological Technology, Ministry of Health, Changsha, Hunan, China
- Corresponding author. National Key Laboratory of Nanobiological Technology, Ministry of Health, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China.

Received 22 March 2006; accepted 27 January 2007. published online 10 May 2007.

Abstract

To make progress toward an efficient gene vector for cancer gene therapy, a novel nonviral vector of polybutylcyanoacrylate nanoparticles (PBCA NPs) was developed. Cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) was used to modify the surface of PBCA NPs, and then the plasmid DNA (pDNA) of pAFP-TK was wrapped into PBCA-CTAB NPs. Atomic force microscopy and zeta potential demonstrated that PBCA-CTAB NPs were 80–200 nm in diameter and had +15.6 mV positive surface charges. Assay using 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5–diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide showed that PBCA-CTAB NPs had less cytotoxicity to 3T3 cells than HepG2 cells. The analysis of PBCA-CTAB-DNA complexes could not only protect DNA from degradation by DNase I, it could also transfer pDNA into targeted cells with high transfection efficiency. Furthermore, when PBCA-CTAB NPs combined with suicide gene pAFP-TK, α-fetoprotein-positive cells transfected by it were highly sensitive to ganciclovir treatment, and cell survival declined precipitously. Therefore, this target strategy using a pAFP-TK/GCV suicide gene therapy system in which PBCA-CTAB NPs serve as gene delivery vectors explores a promising area for α-fetoprotein-positive hepatocellular carcinoma and associated carcinoma therapy.

Key words: PBCA, CTAB, pAFP-TK/GCV, Transfection, Bystander effect