Self-assembled targeted nanoparticles based on transferrin-modified eight-arm-polyethylene glycol–dihydroartemisinin conjugate

Poor delivery of insoluble anticancer drugs has so far precluded their clinical application. In this study, an efficient tumor targeted-nanoparticle delivery system, transferrin-eight-arm-polyethylene glycol–dihydroartemisinin nanoparticles (TF-8arm-PEG-DHA NPs) for the vehiculation of dihydroartemisinin (DHA) was first prepared and evaluated for its targeting efficiency and cytotoxicity in vitro and in vivo to Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells, which overexpress transferrin receptors (TFRs). The synthesized TF-8arm-PEG–DHA NPs had high solubility (~102 fold of free DHA), relatively high drug loading (~10 wt% DHA), long circulating half-life and moderate particle size (~147 nm). The in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo tumor growth inhibition studies in LLC-tumor bearing mice confirmed the enhanced efficacy of TF-modified 8arm-PEG-DHA NPs compared to free DHA and non-modified 8arm-PEG-DHA NPs. All these results together supported that the formulation developed in this work exhibited great potential as an effective tumor targeting delivery system for insoluble anticancer drugs.