Targeted Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Gemcitabine-Incorporated GPC3 Aptamer
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common malignancy of the liver, which can progress rapidly and has a poor prognosis. Glypican-3 (GPC3) has been proposed to be an important diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC. Aptamers have emerged as promising drug delivery vehicles becaus...
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MDPI AG
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Pharmaceutics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/12/10/985 |
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| author | Jun Young Park Ju Ri Chae Ye Lim Cho Youndong Kim Dasom Lee Jeong Kyun Lee Won Jun Kang |
| author_facet | Jun Young Park Ju Ri Chae Ye Lim Cho Youndong Kim Dasom Lee Jeong Kyun Lee Won Jun Kang |
| author_sort | Jun Young Park |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common malignancy of the liver, which can progress rapidly and has a poor prognosis. Glypican-3 (GPC3) has been proposed to be an important diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC. Aptamers have emerged as promising drug delivery vehicles because of their high binding affinity for target molecules. Herein, we developed G12msi, a gemcitabine-incorporated DNA aptamer, targeting GPC3, and evaluated its binding specificity and anti-tumor efficacy in GPC3-overexpressing HCC cell lines and murine xenograft models. GPC3-targeted aptamers were selected by using the SELEX process and the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine was internally incorporated into the aptamer. To determine the binding affinity and internalization of the G12msi, flow cytometry and confocal microscopy were performed on GPC3-positive HepG2, Hep3B, and Huh7 cells, as well as a GPC3-negative A431 cell. The anti-tumor activities of G12msi were evaluated with in vitro and in vivo models. We found that G12msi binds to GPC3-overexpressing HCC tumor cells with high specificity and is effectively internalized. Moreover, G12msi treatment inhibited the cell proliferation of GPC3-positive HCC cell lines with minimal cytotoxicity in control A431 cells. In vivo systemic administration of G12msi significantly inhibited tumor growth of HCC HepG2 cells in xenograft models without causing toxicity. These results suggest that gemcitabine-incorporated GPC3 aptamer-based drug delivery may be a promising strategy for the treatment of HCC. |
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| issn | 1999-4923 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T15:32:20Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
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| series | Pharmaceutics |
| spelling | doaj.art-4620a00057fd419baad67fc2220a465e2023-11-20T17:33:10ZengMDPI AGPharmaceutics1999-49232020-10-01121098510.3390/pharmaceutics12100985Targeted Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Gemcitabine-Incorporated GPC3 AptamerJun Young Park0Ju Ri Chae1Ye Lim Cho2Youndong Kim3Dasom Lee4Jeong Kyun Lee5Won Jun Kang6Department of Nuclear Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 50-1 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, KoreaDepartment of Nuclear Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 50-1 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, KoreaDepartment of Nuclear Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 50-1 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, KoreaAptamer Sciences Inc., 172, Dolma-ro, Bundang-gu Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 13605, KoreaAptamer Sciences Inc., 172, Dolma-ro, Bundang-gu Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 13605, KoreaAptamer Sciences Inc., 172, Dolma-ro, Bundang-gu Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 13605, KoreaDepartment of Nuclear Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 50-1 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, KoreaHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common malignancy of the liver, which can progress rapidly and has a poor prognosis. Glypican-3 (GPC3) has been proposed to be an important diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC. Aptamers have emerged as promising drug delivery vehicles because of their high binding affinity for target molecules. Herein, we developed G12msi, a gemcitabine-incorporated DNA aptamer, targeting GPC3, and evaluated its binding specificity and anti-tumor efficacy in GPC3-overexpressing HCC cell lines and murine xenograft models. GPC3-targeted aptamers were selected by using the SELEX process and the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine was internally incorporated into the aptamer. To determine the binding affinity and internalization of the G12msi, flow cytometry and confocal microscopy were performed on GPC3-positive HepG2, Hep3B, and Huh7 cells, as well as a GPC3-negative A431 cell. The anti-tumor activities of G12msi were evaluated with in vitro and in vivo models. We found that G12msi binds to GPC3-overexpressing HCC tumor cells with high specificity and is effectively internalized. Moreover, G12msi treatment inhibited the cell proliferation of GPC3-positive HCC cell lines with minimal cytotoxicity in control A431 cells. In vivo systemic administration of G12msi significantly inhibited tumor growth of HCC HepG2 cells in xenograft models without causing toxicity. These results suggest that gemcitabine-incorporated GPC3 aptamer-based drug delivery may be a promising strategy for the treatment of HCC.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/12/10/985hepatocellular carcinomaaptamerGPC3aptamer-drug conjugategemcitabine |
| spellingShingle | Jun Young Park Ju Ri Chae Ye Lim Cho Youndong Kim Dasom Lee Jeong Kyun Lee Won Jun Kang Targeted Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Gemcitabine-Incorporated GPC3 Aptamer Pharmaceutics hepatocellular carcinoma aptamer GPC3 aptamer-drug conjugate gemcitabine |
| title | Targeted Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Gemcitabine-Incorporated GPC3 Aptamer |
| title_full | Targeted Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Gemcitabine-Incorporated GPC3 Aptamer |
| title_fullStr | Targeted Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Gemcitabine-Incorporated GPC3 Aptamer |
| title_full_unstemmed | Targeted Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Gemcitabine-Incorporated GPC3 Aptamer |
| title_short | Targeted Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Gemcitabine-Incorporated GPC3 Aptamer |
| title_sort | targeted therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma using gemcitabine incorporated gpc3 aptamer |
| topic | hepatocellular carcinoma aptamer GPC3 aptamer-drug conjugate gemcitabine |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/12/10/985 |
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