Development of lipidic nanoparticles for PTEN gene and mitoxantrone delivery in breast and prostate cancer cells

Author(s)

Allan Radaic

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia
• Defense date: 2012-07-18

Examining board members

Eneida de Paula; Amedea Barozzi Seabra; Ana Carolina Santos de Souza

• Advisor: Marcelo Bispo de Jesus; Eneida de Paula

Abstract

Cancer is the genetic disease responsible for major death causes in developed countries and it is the second leading cause of death in developing countries. One of the main forms of cancer treatment is chemotherapy, which uses drugs to induce death in neoplastic cells, thereby preventing their overgrowth. To overcome disadvantages of current treatments, new therapies have been developed. Among them, gene therapy and the use of drug delivery systems were the approaches used in our research. Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLC) and Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLN) are suitable carriers for such therapies since they can effectively and safely deliver genetic material, drugs and proteins in target cells. Therefore, this work was aimed i) to develop and optimize a new method of production of NLC and SLN: the microemulsion extrusion and ii) to produce nanoparticles capable of co-delivery genes (the coding gene for PTEN) and drugs (mitoxantrone) into cancer cells. The results demonstrate that microemulsion extrusion is a reliable method for the production of such particles, being 15 passages through 100 nm membrane, at 5 °C above the solid lipid melting temperature, are the best parameters for process optimization. The lipid nanoparticles showed average diameter of 140 nm and they were stable up to 180 days of storage at 4 °C. Moreover, NLC and SLN showed similar size, Zeta potential and polydispersity (PDI). While calorimetry did not reveal great differences among the formulations tested, transmission electron microscopy revealed a monolithic structure for lipid nanoparticles distinct from lipossomes, which allowed NLC and SLN to encapsulate 81 and 64 %, respectively, of mitoxantrone. Finally, concomitant entrapment of mitoxantrone and PTEN gene in lipid nanoparticles led to a decrease in the cell viability of breast (MCF-7) and prostate (PC3) cancer cells, more efficiently than liposomal formulations (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 09/13110-3 - Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLN) as RNAi carrier: Study of the biologic role of the extracellular regulated signals kinase protein (ERK) in prostate cancer cells.
• Grantee: Allan Radaic
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master