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Placenta-specific drug delivery by trophoblast-targeted nanoparticles in mice

Author:Baozhen Zhang, Lunbo Tan, Yan Yu, Baobei Wang, Zhilong Chen, Jinyu Han, Mengxia Li, Jie Chen, Tianxia Xiao, Balamurali K Ambati, Lintao Cai, Qing Yang, Nihar R Nayak, Jian Zhang, Xiujun Fan   《Theranostics》


ABSTRACTS
Rationale: The availability of therapeutics to treat pregnancy complications is severely lacking, mainly due to the risk of harm to the fetus. In placental malaria, Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes (IEs) accumulate in the placenta by adhering to chondroitin sulfate A (CSA) on the surfaces of trophoblasts. Based on this principle, we have developed a method for targeted delivery of payloads to the placenta using a synthetic placental CSA-binding peptide (plCSA-BP) derived from VAR2CSA, a CSA-binding protein expressed on IEs.
Methods: A biotinylated plCSA-BP was used to examine the specificity of plCSA-BP binding to mouse and human placental tissue in tissue sections in vitro. Different nanoparticles, including plCSA-BP-conjugated nanoparticles loaded with indocyanine green (plCSA-INPs) or methotrexate (plCSA-MNPs), were administered intravenously to pregnant mice to test their efficiency at drug delivery to the placenta in vivo. The tissue distribution and localization of the plCSA-INPs were monitored in live animals using an IVIS imaging system. The effect of plCSA-MNPs on fetal and placental development and pregnancy outcome were examined using a small-animal high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) imaging system, and the concentrations of methotrexate in fetal and placental tissues were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
Results: plCSA-BP binds specifically to trophoblasts and not to other cell types in the placenta or to CSA-expressing cells in other tissues. Moreover, we found that intravenously administered plCSA-INPs accumulate in the mouse placenta, and ex vivo analysis of the fetuses and placentas confirmed placenta-specific delivery of these nanoparticles. We also demonstrate successful delivery of methotrexate specifically to placental cells by plCSA-BP-conjugated nanoparticles, resulting in dramatic impairment of placental and fetal development. Importantly, plCSA-MNPs treatment had no apparent adverse effects on maternal tissues.
Conclusion: These results demonstrate that plCSA-BP-guided nanoparticles could be used for the targeted delivery of payloads to the placenta and serve as a novel placenta-specific drug delivery option.
KEY WORDS
trophoblast, chondroitin sulfate A, placental CSA binding peptide, nanoparticles
SCREENSHOT

RELATED PRODUCTS
Placental CSA-binding peptide (plCSA-BP, EDVKDINFDTKEKFLAGCLIVSFHEGKC) and N-terminal α-amino-biotinylated plCSA-BP (biotin-plCSA-BP) were purchased from ChinaPeptides Co.,Ltd. (Shanghai, China).
CHAINING
http://www.thno.org/v08p2765.htm

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