Vascular endothelial growth factor-targeted paclitaxel-loaded liposome microbubbles and inhibition of human...

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in the formation of capillary blood vessels. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the inhibitory effect of VEGF-targeted paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded liposome microbubbles (VTPLLMs) on the proliferation of human epidermoid (Hep-2) laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

Six groups were randomly divided. The inhibitory effects on Hep-2 proliferation were assessed by a methylthiazol tetrazolium (MTT) method. The cell cycle distributions were investigated by flow cytometry. The expression variations of VEGF and caspase-3 were compared by Western blotting.

Proliferation of Hep-2 in the VTPLLM+ultrasound group was significantly inhibited, and flow cytometry showed that the Hep-2 cells were significantly blocked at stage G2/M compared with other groups. Moreover, Western blotting showed VEGF expression was downregulated and caspase-3 expression was upregulated.

VTPLLMs can efficiently inhibit tumor cell proliferation and outperform nontargeted microbubbles or PTX. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 656-661, 2017.