Marco Palminteri 1 , Nilesh Kumar Dhakar 2 , Alessandra Ferraresi 1 , Fabrizio Caldera 2 , Chiara Vidoni 1 , Francesco Trotta 2 , Ciro Isidoro 1
Affiliations
1 Laboratory of Molecular Pathology, Department of Health Sciences, Università del Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogadro”, Novara, Italy.
2 Department of Chemistry, University of Turin, via P. Giuria 7, 10125, Turin, Italy.
PMID: 33564618
PMCID: PMC7868003
DOI: 10.7150/ntno.53888
Nanotheranostics. 2021 Jan 21;5(2):197-212. doi: 10.7150/ntno.53888. eCollection 2021.
Abstract
Smart drug delivery systems are required for the site-specific drug targeting to enhance the therapeutic efficiency of a drug. Resveratrol (RV) is a polyphenolic compound with anti-cancer activity. However, its poor aqueous solubility and non-selectivity are the major challenges for its employment in cancer therapy. In this work, we present the synthesis of RV-loaded glutathione responsive cyclodextrin nanosponges (RV-GSH-NSs) to improve the therapeutic efficiency and selective delivery of RV. The drug loading and encapsulation efficiency were 16.12% and 80.64%, respectively. The in vitro release profile confirmed that RV release was enhanced in response to external glutathione (GSH). Nude NSs were not toxic per se to human fibroblasts when administered for up to 72 h at the highest dose. Cell internalization studies confirmed that RV-GSH-NSs were preferentially up-taken by tumor cells compared to non-tumorigenic cells. Accordingly, RV showed selective toxicity to cancer cells compared to normal cells. GSH depletion by buthionine sulfoximine, a potent inhibitor of its synthesis, reflected in a significant decrease of the NSs accumulation, and consequently resulted in a drastic reduction of RV-mediated toxic effects in cancer cells. These findings demonstrate that GSH- responsive NSs represent an effective delivery system for targeting cancer cells by harnessing the differential tumor characteristics in terms of redox status in parallel with the limitation of side effects toward normal cells.
Keywords: Resveratrol; breast cancer; glutathione; ovarian cancer; β-cyclodextrin nanosponge.
