Co-delivery of TRAIL gene enhances the anti-glioblastoma effect of paclitaxel in vitro and in vivo.

Co-delivery of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and paclitaxel (PTX) is an attractive strategy to enhance their anti-tumor efficacy. As the most aggressive brain tumor, glioblastoma is sensitive to TRAIL and PTX. However, their therapeutic efficacy for intracranial glioblastoma is significantly impaired by blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood-tumor barrier (BTB). Previously, we have prepared c(RGDyK)-poly(ethylene glycol)-polyethyleneimine (RGD-PEG-PEI) as a non-viral gene carrier for glioblastoma targeted therapy by employing a cyclic RGD peptide (c(RGDyK), cyclic arginine-glycine-aspartic acid-d-tyrosine-lysine), which binds to integrin α(v)β(3) over-expressed neovasculature and U87 glioblastoma cells with high affinities. In the present work, it was found that low concentration of paclitaxel (10nM) significantly enhanced the gene transfection of RGD-PEG-PEI/pDNA nanoparticle, which, in turn, dramatically elevated the anti-glioblastoma effect of paclitaxel in vitro. The gene transfection was also elevated in vivo. Co-delivery of brain-targeted CDX-PEG-PLA-PTX micelle dramatically enhanced gene transfection efficiency in the intracranial brain tumor. Due to the change of BBB integrity and the formation of BTB, we subsequently investigated the anti-glioblastoma effects of RGD-PEG-PEI/pORF-hTRAIL nanoparticle combined with CDX-PEG-PLA-PTX micelle (paclitaxel loaded CDX-poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(lactic acid) micelle). While at the same dosages, the median survival of the intracranial glioblastoma-bearing model mice treated with co-delivery (33.5 days) is significantly longer than those of solely treated mice with CDX-PEG-PLA-PTX (25.5 days), RGD-PEG-PEI/pORF-hTRAIL (24.5 days) or physiological saline (21.5 days). Herein, we verify the high potency of co-delivery of TRAIL gene and paclitaxel in the intervention of intracranial glioblastoma by employing tumor-targeted gene carrier RGD-PEG-PEI and brain-targeted micelle CDX-PEG-PLA, respectively.