An Oligopeptide Ligand-Mediated Therapeutic Gene Nanocomplex for Liver Cancer-Targeted Therapy

摘要

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is over-expressed in a wide variety of epithelial-derived cancer cells. In this study, EGFR-targeted gene carriers were designed to complex AChE gene for effective treatment of EGFR-positive liver cancers. Different amounts of target ligand YC21 (an oligopeptide composed of 21 amino acid units) were coupled with the PEI_(600)-CD (PC) vectors composed of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and low-molecular-weight polyethylenimine (PEI, Mw 600) to form the EGFR-targeted gene vectors (termed as YPCs). The YPC vector possessed the highly efficient gene delivery ability to the EGFR-positive liver cancer cells. YPCs could effectively promote AChE gene expression. By investigating anticancer efficacy via EGFR-positive liver cancer cells, it was found that the YPC/AChE complexes produced excellent gene transfection abilities and effectively promoted the inhibition of tumor growth in vivo. Such target peptide-mediated therapeutic gene complexes should have great potential applications in cancer therapy.