Targeted delivery of doxorubicin by nano-loaded mesenchymal stem cells for lung melanoma metastases therapy

Poor antigenic presentation of tumor tissues and a lack of specific targets currently limit the success of nanoparticle delivery system. Cellular carrier technique has been recently explored extensively as a substitutive or supplement for traditional targeting delivery system. Here, we demonstrate the usage of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) loaded with doxorubicin containing polymer nanoparticles in pulmonary melanoma metastases therapy, as a modified technique of targeted delivery system. The characterizations of prepared nanoparticles and MSCs sensitivity to DOX and PLGA-DOX were measured. In vitro tumor tropism, and in vivo distributions of nanoparticles loaded MSCs were also investigated. The findings have demonstrated that, the modified system not only integrates the controlled-release property of nanoparticles but also exhibits tumor tropism and penetrative characteristics of MSCs. Furthermore, the in vitro and in vivo anti-tumor study has demonstrated that drug loaded MSCs had potent efficacy in lung melanoma metastases treatment.