Synthesis and grafting of thioctic acid-PEG-folate conjugates onto Au nanoparticles for selective targeting of folate receptor-positive tumor cells.

Article Details

Citation

Copy to clipboard

Dixit V, Van den Bossche J, Sherman DM, Thompson DH, Andres RP

Synthesis and grafting of thioctic acid-PEG-folate conjugates onto Au nanoparticles for selective targeting of folate receptor-positive tumor cells.

Bioconjug Chem. 2006 May-Jun;17(3):603-9.

PubMed ID

16704197 [ View in PubMed

]

Abstract

This paper reports the creation of Au nanoparticles (AuNP) that are soluble in aqueous solution over a broad range of pH and ionic strength values and that are capable of selective uptake by folate receptor positive (FR+) cancer cells. A novel poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) construct with thioctic acid and folic acid coupled on opposite ends of the polymer chain was synthesized for targeting the AuNP to FR+ tumor cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis. These folic acid-PEG-thioctic acid conjugates were grafted onto 10-nm-diameter Au particles in aqueous solution. The resulting folate-PEG-coated nanoparticles do not aggregate over a pH range of from 2 to 12 and at electrolyte concentrations of up to 0.5 M NaCl with particle concentrations as high as 1.5 x 10(13) particles/mL. Transmission electron microscopy was used to document the performance of these coated nanoparticles in cell culture. Selective uptake of folate-PEG grafted AuNPs by KB cells, a FR+ cell line that overexpress the folate receptor, was observed. AuNP uptake was minimal in cells that (1) do not overexpress the folate receptor, (2) were exposed to AuNP lacking the folate-PEG conjugate, or (3) were co-incubated with free folic acid in large excess relative to the folate-PEG grafted AuNP. Understanding this process is an important step in the development of methods that use targeted metal nanoparticles for tumor imaging and ablation.

DrugBank Data that Cites this Article

Drug Targets

Drug	Target	Kind	Organism	Pharmacological Action	Actions
Folic acid	Folate receptor beta	Protein	Humans	Unknown	Binder	Details