Targeted delivery of irinotecan to colon cancer cells using epidermal growth factor receptor-conjugated liposomes

Abstract

Abstract Background CPT-11 (irinotecan) is one of the most efficient agents used for colorectal cancer chemotherapy. However, as for many other chemotherapeutic drugs, how to minimize the side effects of CPT-11 still needs to be thoroughly described. Objectives This study aimed to develop the CPT-11-loaded DSPE-PEG 2000 targeting EGFR liposomal delivery system and characterize its targeting specificity and therapeutic effect on colorectal cancer (CRC) cells in vitro and in vivo. Results The synthesized liposome exhibited spherical shapes (84.6 ± 1.2 nm to 150.4 nm ± 0.8 nm of estimated average sizes), good stability, sustained release, and enough drug loading (55.19%). For in vitro experiments, SW620 cells treated with CPT-11-loaded DSPE-PEG2000 targeting EGFR liposome showed lower survival extended level of intracellular ROS production. In addition, it generated an enhanced apoptotic cell rate by upregulating the protein expression of both cleaved-caspase-3 and cleaved-caspase-9 compared with those of SW620 cells treated with free CPT-11. Importantly, the xenograft model showed that both the non-target and EGFR-targeted liposomes significantly inhibited tumor growth compared to free CPT-11. Conclusions Compared with the non-target CPT-11-loaded DSPE-PEG2000 liposome, CPT-11-loaded DSPE-PEG2000 targeting EGFR liposome treatment showed much better antitumor activity in vitro in vivo. Thus, our findings provide new assets and expectations for CRC targeting therapy.