Bone-targeting polymer vesicles for simultaneous imaging and effective malignant bone tumor treatment.

Zhou, Xue; Yan, Ning; Cornel, Erik J; Cai, Haidong; Xue, Shaobo; Xi, Hao; Fan, Zhen; He, Shisheng et al. · Biomaterials · 2021

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We present a bone-targeting polymer vesicle with excellent single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) imaging capability and high antitumor drug delivery efficiency as an integrated platform for the simultaneous diagnosing and treatment of malignant bone tumors. This polymer vesicle can be self-assembled from poly(ε-caprolactone)<sub>67</sub>-b-poly[(L-glutamic acid)<sub>6</sub>-stat-(L-glutamic acid-alendronic acid)<sub>16</sub>] (PCL<sub>67</sub>-b-P[Glu<sub>6</sub>-stat-(Glu-ADA)<sub>16</sub>]), directly in water without the aid of a cosolvent. SPECT/CT dynamically tracked the drug distribution in the bone tumor rabbit models, and the tumor size was significantly reduced from >2.0 cm<sup>3</sup> to <0.6 cm<sup>3</sup> over 11 days. The pathological analysis demonstrated obvious necrosis and apoptosis of the tumor cells. Overall, this bone-targeting polymer vesicle provides us with a new platform for the combination of real-time diagnosis and therapy of malignant bone tumors.

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