Improved drug targeting of cancer cells by utilizing actively targetable folic acid-conjugated albumin nanospheres

Folic acid-conjugated albumin nanospheres (FA-AN) have been developed to provide an actively targetable drug delivery system for improved drug targeting of cancer cells with reduced side effects. The nanospheres were prepared by conjugating folic acid onto the surface of albumin nanospheres using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDAC) as a catalyst. To test the efficacy of these nanospheres as a potential delivery platform, doxorubicin-loaded albumin nanospheres (DOX-AN) and doxorubicin-loaded FA-AN (FA-DOX-AN) were prepared by entrapping DOX (an anthracycline, antibiotic drug widely used in cancer chemotherapy that works by intercalating DNA) into AN and FA-AN nanoparticles. Cell uptake of the DOX was then measured. The results show that FA-AN was incorporated into HeLa cells (tumor cells) only after 2.0 h incubation, whereas HeLa cells failed to incorporate albumin nanospheres without conjugated folic acid after 4.0 h incubation. When HeLa cells were treated with the DOX-AN, FA-DOX-AN nanoparticles or free DOX, cell viability decreased with increasing culture time (i.e. cell death increases with time) over a 70 h period. Cell viability was always the lowest for free DOX followed by FA-DOX-AN4 and then DOX-AN. In a second set of experiments, HeLa cells washed to remove excess DOX after an initial incubation for 2 h were incubated for 70 h. The corresponding cell viability was slightly higher when the cells were treated with FA-DOX-AN or free DOX whilst cells treated with DOX-AN nanoparticles remained viable. The above experiments were repeated for non-cancerous, aortic smooth muscle cells (AoSMC). As expected, cell viability of the HeLa cells (with FA receptor alpha, FRα) and AoSMC cells (without FRα) decreased rapidly with time in the presence of free DOX, but treatment with FA-DOX-AN resulted in selective killing of the tumor cells. These results indicated that FA-AN may be used as a promising actively targetable drug delivery system to improve drug targeting to cancer cells.