Maurocalcine as a Non Toxic Drug Carrier Overcomes Doxorubicin Resistance in the Cancer Cell Line MDA-MB 231

Purpose  The aim of this study is to overcome tumour cell resistance that generally develops after administration of commonly used anti-cancer drugs, such as doxorubicin. Methods  Recently, cell penetrating peptides have been used for their ability to deliver non-permeant compounds into cells. One such cell penetrating peptide, maurocalcine, has been isolated from the venom of a Tunisian scorpion. Herein, we report the effects of doxorubicin covalently coupled to an analogue of maurocalcine on drug-sensitive or drug-resistant cell lines MCF7 and MDA-MB 231. Results  We demonstrated the in vitro anti-tumoral efficacy of the doxorubicin maurocalcine conjugate. On a doxorubicin-sensitive cancer cell line, the maurocalcine-conjugated form appears slightly less efficient than doxorubicin itself. On the contrary, on a doxorubicin-resistant cancer cell line, doxorubicin coupling allows to overcome the drug resistance. This strategy can be generalized to other cell penetrating peptides since Tat and penetratin show similar effects. Conclusion  We conclude that coupling anti-tumoral drugs to cell penetrating peptides represent a valuable strategy to overcome drug resistance. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.