Effects on hepatocellular carcinoma of doxorubicin-loaded immunoliposomes designed to target the VEGFR-2

Roth, Patrik; Hammer, Caroline; Piguet, Anne-Christine; Ledermann, Monika; Dufour, Jean-François; Waelti, Ernst (2007). Effects on hepatocellular carcinoma of doxorubicin-loaded immunoliposomes designed to target the VEGFR-2. Journal of drug targeting, 15(9), pp. 623-31. London: Informa Healthcare 10.1080/10611860701502723

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To maintain a tumour vasculature in proportion of the tumour growth, the endothelial cells proliferate and up-regulate the expression of the VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR-2), whose expression is restricted to this cell type. This specificity implies that one therapeutically target the tumour endothelium. We investigated the use of immunoliposomes (IL), containing conjugated Fab' fragments of the monoclonal rat anti-VEGFR-2 antibody DC101 (DC101-IL) to cargo doxorubicin to the tumour endothelium. In vitro, fluorescein-labelled IL displayed a 7 fold better binding to VEGFR-2-positive 293T cells in comparison to unspecific liposomes. Balb/C mice were injected subcutaneously with syngeneic hepatocellular carcinoma cells. One set of animals was treated with DC101-IL filled with doxorubicin when the tumours were bigger than 400 mm3. A specific delivery of doxorubicin to endothelial cells of the tumour vessels could be demonstrated by the red fluorescence of doxorubicin with laser scanning microscopy, but neither a delay of tumour growth nor a shrinking of the tumour mass was observed. Yet necrosis in the tumours treated with doxorubicin containing vehicles was larger than in the tumours of the control groups. A second set of animals was treated with DC101-IL filled with doxorubicin when the tumours were smaller than 1 mm3. DC101-IL filled with doxorubicin led to a significant delay in tumour growth up to 7 weeks compared to empty DC101-IL, free doxorubicin, and HEPES/Glucose (HEPES/Glucose vs. DOX-DC101-IL, p = 0.001; unpaired, two-tailed Student's t-test) and to a higher amount of necrotic areas in the tumours (p = 0.053; 1 way ANOVA with 4 groups). These findings suggest that IL designed to bind specifically to VEGFR-2 can be used to deliver doxorubicin to the tumour endothelium and may impair the "angiogenic switch" of the tumours.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gastro-intestinal, Liver and Lung Disorders (DMLL) > Clinic of Visceral Surgery and Medicine > Hepatology 04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Pathology
UniBE Contributor:	Dufour, Jean-François, Wälti, Ernst
ISSN:	1061-186X
ISBN:	17968716
Publisher:	Informa Healthcare
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 14:54
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:16
Publisher DOI:	10.1080/10611860701502723
PubMed ID:	17968716
Web of Science ID:	000251334600006
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/22966 (FactScience: 38086)