Cisplatin-Induced Formation of Biocompatible and Biodegradable Polypeptide-Based Vesicles for Targeted Anticancer Drug Delivery

Novel cisplatin (CDDP)-loaded, polypeptide-based vesicles for the targeted delivery of cisplatin to cancer cells have been prepared. These vesicles were formed from biocompatible and biodegradable maleimide-poly(ethylene oxide)(114)-b-poly((L)-glutamic acid)(12) (Mal-PEG(114)-b-PLG(12)) block copolymers upon conjugation with the drug itself. CDDP conjugation forms a short, rigid, crosslinked, drug-loaded, hydrophobic block in the copolymer, and subsequently induces self-assembly into hollow vesicle structures with average hydrodynamic diameters (D-h) of similar to 270 nm. CDDP conjugation is critical to the formation of the vesicles. The reactive maleimide-PEG moieties that form the corona and inner layer of the vesicles were protected via formation of a reversible Diels-Alder (DA) adduct throughout the block copolymer synthesis so as to maintain their integrity. Drug release studies demonstrated a low and sustained drug release profile in systemic conditions (pH = 7.4, [Cl-] = 140 mM) with a higher "burst-like" release rate being observed under late endosomal/lysosomal conditions (pH = 5.2, [Cl-] = 35 mM). Further, the peripheral maleimide functionalities on the vesicle corona were conjugated to thiol-functionalized folic acid (FA) (via in situ reduction of a novel bis-FA disulfide, FA-SS-FA) to form an active targeting drug delivery system. These targeting vesicles exhibited significantly higher cellular binding/uptake into and dose-dependent cytotoxicity toward cancer cells (HeLa) compared to noncancerous cells (NIH-3T3), which show high and low folic acid receptor (FR) expression, respectively. This work thus demonstrates a novel approach to polypeptide-based vesicle assembly and a promising strategy for targeted, effective CDDP anticancer drug delivery.