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Published on: December 13, 2016
Rational engineering of ferritin nanocages for targeted therapy of osteoarthritis
Yi He1, En Ren2, Zhenhui Lu1
1Guangxi Engineering Center in Biomedical Materials for Tissue and Organ Regeneration, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, China; Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, China.
Abstract:
Intra-articular (IA) drug delivery to treat osteoarthritis (OA) is limited by the short retention time of drugs in the joints due to poor specific targeting and non-responsiveness under acidic environment. A cartilage-targeting peptide was engineered to the surface of ferritin nanocages (CT-Fn) and loaded with an anti-inflammatory drug, metformin (Met), via the self-assembling nature of Fn nanocages. It demonstrated that the CT-Fn/Met could specifically bind to type II collagen, leading to the downregulation of catabolic markers of OA and promotion of cartilage-specific makers in IL-1β-induced chondrocytes. IA delivery of CT-Fn/Met prolonged the retention time for 3 weeks and remarkably reduced inflammation. Moreover, better release under acidic conditions which enabling longer retention time of Met after IA delivery in OA joints for one more week. CT-Fn/Met could target and efficiently enter chondrocytes, further inducing prolonged IA accumulation and achieving enhanced therapeutic efficacy for OA treatment.
