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Gap Junction Liposomes for Efficient Delivery of Chemotherapeutics to Solid Tumors

Andrea N Trementozzi1, Stephanie Hufnagel2, Haiyue Xu2

  • 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States.

ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering
|January 18, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Connectosomes, cell-derived vesicles, enhance chemotherapy delivery by opening cellular pathways. This novel approach significantly improves drug transport into tumor cells, offering a promising alternative to traditional methods.

Area of Science:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Cell Biology
  • Drug Delivery Systems

Background:

  • Chemotherapeutic efficacy is hindered by poor cellular membrane transport.
  • Existing drug delivery methods, like liposomes, face limitations in reaching intracellular targets efficiently.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the *in vivo* efficacy of connectosomes for enhanced chemotherapeutic delivery.
  • To assess connectosomes as a novel intracellular drug delivery system in a murine breast tumor model.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized cell-derived vesicles (connectosomes) engineered with gap junction proteins.
  • Tested connectosomes loaded with chemotherapeutics in a murine breast tumor model.
  • Compared connectosome delivery efficiency against conventional drug-loaded liposomes.

Main Results:

  • Connectosomes demonstrated a significant improvement in chemotherapeutic delivery to tumor cells.
  • Delivery efficiency was enhanced up to 16-fold compared to liposomes *in vivo*.
  • Established connectosomes as an effective pathway for direct intracellular drug delivery.

Conclusions:

  • Connectosomes represent a novel and highly efficient strategy for intracellular chemotherapeutic delivery.
  • Harnessing the gap junction network via connectosomes overcomes cellular transport barriers.
  • This approach offers a promising alternative for improving cancer treatment outcomes.
Keywords:
deliverygap junction channelsintracellularintratumoralmurine mammary tumor

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