Gemcitabine and Chlorotoxin Conjugated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Glioblastoma Therapy.

Many small-molecule anti-cancer drugs have short blood half-lives and toxicity issues due to non-specificity. Nanotechnology has shown great promise in addressing these issues. Here, we report the development of an anti-cancer drug gemcitabine-conjugated iron oxide nanoparticle for glioblastoma therapy. A glioblastoma targeting peptide, chlorotoxin, was attached after drug conjugation. The nanoparticle has a small size (~32 nm) and uniform size distribution (PDI ≈ 0.1), and is stable in biological medium. The nanoparticle effectively enter cancer cells without losing potency compared to free drug. Significantly, the nanoparticle showed a prolonged blood half-life and the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier in wild type mice.