Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 26, 2025
Author Spotlight: Innovative Cancer Therapies with Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Glioblastoma Treatment
Published on: September 27, 2024
Sulfonamide-Functionalized Polymeric Nanoparticles for Enhanced In Vivo Colorectal Cancer Therapy
Pedro Pires Goulart Guimarães1, Celso Tarso Rodrigues Viana1, Luciana Pereira2
1Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Institute of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil.
Background:
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the world. 5- Fluorouracil (5-FU) is a conventional and most effective drug used in the clinic for the treatment of CRC. However, the clinical use of 5-FU is limited due to the acquired resistance and systemic toxicity, such as hepatotoxicity and gastrointestinal toxicity.
Objective:
Recent advances in nanomedicine are being exploited to develop nanoparticle platforms to overcome resistance and therapeutic delivery of active molecules. Here, we developed 5-FU loaded sulfadiazine-poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles (SUL-PLGA NPs) to be applied in the colorectal cancer model.
Methods:
We assessed the in vivo efficacy of the SUL-PLGA NPs to enhance the antitumor effect of 5-FU.
Results:
In vivo treatment with 5-FU-SUL-PLGA NPs significantly reduced tumor growth in a colon cancer xenograft model compared to free 5-FU and 5-FU loaded non-targeted NPs. Treatment with 5-FU-SUL-PLGA NPs also increased blood vessel diameters within tumors, which could act in conjunction to enhance antitumor efficacy. In addition, 5-FU-SUL-PLGA NPs significantly reduced liver mass and lung mass, which are the most common metastasis sites of CRC, and decreased liver hepatotoxicity compared to free 5-FU drug and 5-FU loaded non-targeted NPs.
Conclusion:
Our findings suggest that the use of 5-FU-SUL-PLGA NPs is a promising strategy to enhance 5-FU efficacy against CRC.
