Poly(p-phenylenevinylene) nanoparticles modified with antiEGFRvIII for specific glioblastoma therapy

Abstract

Glioblastoma is the most common primary brain cancer and it is nearly impossible to remove the entire tumor with surgery or a single drug. EGFRvIII is the most frequent genetic change associated with glioblastoma, so EGFRvIII-based targeting therapies provide promise for treating glioblastoma. Herein, poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] (PPV) was used as the core to prepare a conjugated polymer nanoparticle (PPVN) modified with anti-EGFRvIII (PPVN-A) that exhibited high ROS generation ability under white light irradiation. PPVN-A could target EGFRvIII-overexpressed tumor cells and damaged more than 90% of tumor cells with the light illumination while PPVN without modification exhibited no obvious cytotoxicity toward these cells under the same condition. Thus, the photodynamic treatment of glioblastoma cells using PPVN-A could be achieved, indicating the potential of anti-EGFRvIII-modified nanoparticles as a therapeutic material for treating glioblastoma in clinic.

Polymeric Nanoparticles—Tools in a Drug Delivery System in Selected Cancer Therapies

“…Liang et al [93] developed anti-EGFRvIII-modified conjugated polymer nanoparticles. Poly [2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] was used as the core.…”

“…The developed system exhibited high reactive oxygen species generation ability under whitelight irradiation. By studying their effect on the LN229 cell line, they observed not only that the fluorescent targeting effect can enable neurosurgeons to clearly identify the tumor boundary during the neurosurgical operation, but also that the release of reactive oxygen species promotes the death of EGRFvIII-positive cells, as well as adjacent cells not carrying this mutation [93]. Currently, the interest of many researchers is focused on the use of biodegradable polymers to produce nanoparticles [94][95][96].…”