Abstract
3026
Objectives: Early monitoring the treatment effect is very helpful for in vivo evaluation of the drug potential and clinical doctors to adjust the therapeutic regimen.
Methods: In this study, a dual targeted nanodrug, hyaluronic acid nanoparticles (HANPs) encapsulated with paclitaxel (PTX), was investigated. Preclinically, PTX-loaded HANPs (HANPs/PTX) showed dose-dependent cytotoxicity to cancer cells (HT29, A549, MDA-MB-231, HepG2 and MDA-MB-435s) and significantly lower cytotoxicity against normal fibroblasts (NIH-3T3) than free PTX. In vivo, we intravenously administered PBS, free paclitaxel, paclitaxel protein-bound particles (Abraxane) and HANPs/PTX to each group of athymic nude mice with MDA-MB-435s breast tumors. To monitor therapeutic responses, PET scans were obtained before and at different times after the start of treatment (days 0, 3, 7 and 14) using 18F-FDG.
Results: As expected, the control group, treated with saline and free PTX, exhibited a rapid increase in tumor size as a function of time. Significant slower increase in tumor size was found for the group treated with HANPs/PTX or Abraxane. On HANPs/PTX treatment, the tumor uptake of 18F-FDG is less than the untreated tumors’ in a day-7 to day-0 ratio (0.51:1.30).
Conclusions: Overall, HANPs showed the promising potential as a dual targeted drug carrier for cancer therapy and the early detection treatment effect was optimal with PET monitoring of therapeutic responses.