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Intracellular pathway of halloysite nanotubes: potential application for antitumor drug delivery

  • Materials for life sciences
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Abstract

Natural halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), with nanotubular structure, are attracting considerable attention in recent years. The hollow tubular structure allows HNTs to play an important role in drug delivery system as drug carriers. However, the wide applications of HNTs in biomedicine have been hampered by the lack of sufficient intracellular researches so far. In this study, we systemically investigated the transport mechanisms of HNTs in A549 living cells. The colocalization and inhibition experiments illustrated FITC-labeled HNTs were readily internalized into cells by both clathrin- and caveolae-dependent endocytosis, and the transport pathway of HNTs is an actin- and microtubule-associated process via Golgi apparatus and lysosome. Meanwhile, the cell cycle assay clarified that HNTs can prompt the intracellular transportation of gemcitabine and enhance the gemcitabine concentration in A549 tumor cells. Such elucidation of intracellular transport pathway of HNTs offers insights into the site-specific delivery and cellular internalization of HNTs, which provide a reasonable guidance for the design of novel drug delivery system.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by China Scholarship Council (No.201208420587). The authors would also like to thank Prof. Daiwen Pang at Wuhan University for technical help with confocal microscopy and Dr. Matthew Glen and Dr. Lynne Waddington at CSIRO in Australia for technical assistance on SEM and TEM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Haoyang Liu, Zhi-Gang Wang, Shu-Lin Liu, Xihui Yao, Yun Chen, Yu Wu & Weiqun Tian

  2. CSIRO Manufacturing, Clayton, Melbourne, VIC, 3168, Australia

    Shirley Shen

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  1. Haoyang Liu
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  2. Zhi-Gang Wang
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Correspondence to Weiqun Tian.

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Liu, H., Wang, ZG., Liu, SL. et al. Intracellular pathway of halloysite nanotubes: potential application for antitumor drug delivery. J Mater Sci 54, 693–704 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2775-5

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