Targeted drug delivery via nanoparticles is a newly emerging field that has shown great promise in the improvement of cancer treatment. The goal of this project is to develop a multicomponent drug delivery system composed of a gold nanoparticle core, coated with the targeting ligand hyaluronic acid (HA) and a thiolated derivative of the therapeutic molecule doxorubicin (MPDOX). These nanoconjugates are designed to selectively target CD44 overexpressing cancer cell lines while simultaneously lowering the uptake of the drug in cell lines with basal levels of CD44 expression. Synthetic conditions required for ternary complex self-assembly were determined by simultaneously varying the concentrations of both MPDOX and HA to produce nanoconjugate formulations with optimal drug loading and stability in biological media. Two ovarian cancer cell lines (A2008 and C13) were treated with Doxorubicin, MPDOX, and the optimized nanoconjugate drug delivery system at two different treatment time points. The IC50 values were calculated from the cell viability plots and were then compared to determine the nanoconjugate formulation that was most effective. In conclusion, we have developed stable three part nanoconjugates which maintain equal levels of toxicity compared to the free drug. We are currently working to further optimize this drug delivery system to enhance its anticancer efficacy.

Ternary drug delivery complex to target CD44 over expressing cancerous cell lines

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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