Targeting vincristine plus tetrandrine liposomes modified with DSPE-PEG2000-transferrin in treatment of brain glioma

Glioma is the most frequent primary tumor, and the treatment efficiency is unsatisfactory for the obstacle of the blood brain barrier (BBB), the multidrug resistance (MDR) and the properties of cancer cell invasion and vasculogenic mimicry (VM) formation. In this study, a kind of TF modified vincristine plus tetrandrine liposomes was developed to overcome those limitations. In vitro results showed that TF modified vincristine plus tetrandrine liposomes with suitable physicochemical property could enhance the transport across the BBB, increase the cellular uptake, inhibit the MDR, and block the cancer cell invasion and VM channels. In vivo results demonstrated that TF modified vincristine plus tetrandrine liposomes could significantly prolong the circulation time, obviously accumulate in brain tumor location, thus leading to a robust anticancer efficacy in glioma-bearing mice. These data suggest that TF modified vincristine plus tetrandrine liposomes offer a promising strategy for treating brain glioma. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved