Application of Collagen-Model Triple-Helical Peptide-Amphiphiles for CD44-Targeted Drug Delivery Systems

Cancer treatment by chemotherapy is typically accompanied by deleterious side effects, attributed to the toxic action of chemotherapeutics on proliferating cells from nontumor tissues. The cell surface proteoglycan CD44 has been recognized as a cancer stem cell marker. The present study has examined CD44 targeting as a way to selectively deliver therapeutic agents encapsulated inside colloidal delivery systems. CD44/chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan binds to a triple-helical sequence derived from type IV collagen, α1(IV)1263–1277. We have assembled a peptide-amphiphile (PA) in which α1(IV)1263–1277 was sandwiched between 4 repeats of Gly-Pro-4-hydroxyproline and conjugated to palmitic acid. The PA was incorporated into liposomes composed of DSPG, DSPC, cholesterol, and DSPE-PEG-2000 (1 : 4 : 5 : 0.5). Doxorubicin-(DOX-)loaded liposomes with and without 10% α1(IV)1263–1277 PA were found to exhibit similar stability profiles. Incubation of DOX-loaded targeted liposomes with metastatic melanoma M14#5 and M15#11 cells and BJ fibroblasts resulted in IC(50) values of 9.8, 9.3, and >100 μM, respectively. Nontargeted liposomes were considerably less efficacious for M14#5 cells. In the CD44(+) B16F10 mouse melanoma model, CD44-targeted liposomes reduced the tumor size to 60% of that of the untreated control, whereas nontargeted liposomes were ineffective. These results suggest that PA targeted liposomes may represent a new class of nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems.