Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using GE11–polyethylene glycol–polyethylenimine (GE11-PEG-PEI) for targeted gene delivery to treat epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-overexpressing laryngeal cancer. This study described the design, characterization, and in vitro and in vivo study of the nanocarrier GE11-PEG-PEI for gene delivery to treat laryngeal cancer. Analysis of the sizes and zeta potentials indicated that the formation of PEGylated complexes was dependent on the N/P ratio, and these complexes were capable of binding plasmid DNA and condensing DNA into small positively charged nanoparticles. The results also revealed that GE11-PEG-PEI had a weaker effect on cell survival in vitro. Gene transfection was performed on human laryngeal cancer Hep-2 cells in vitro and in vivo. Both the in vitro and in vivo results demonstrated that GE11-PEG-PEI had greater transfection efficiency than mPEG-PEI. Compared with mPEG-PEI/pORF-hTRAIL and saline, GE11-PEG-PEI/pORFh-TRAIL significantly (p < 0.05) reduced tumor growth in nude mice with laryngeal cancer. Moreover, the GE11-PEG-PEI/pORF-hTRAIL-treated groups showed more apoptosis than the mPEG-PEI/pORF-hTRAIL-treated groups. Therefore, our results showed that the peptide GE11 conjugated to PEG-PEI delivered significantly more genes to EGFR-overexpressing laryngeal cancer cells in vivo, indicating that GE11-PEG-PEI may be a suitable gene vector for treating EGFR-overexpressing laryngeal cancer.
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This study was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81001200) and School of Pharmacy, Fudan University & The Open Project Program of Key Lab of Smart Drug Delivery (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, China.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.
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Ren, H., Zhou, L., Liu, M. et al. Peptide GE11–Polyethylene Glycol–Polyethylenimine for targeted gene delivery in laryngeal cancer. Med Oncol 32, 185 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-015-0624-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-015-0624-9