In vivo synergistic antitumor effect and safety of siRNA and lonidamine dual-loaded hierarchical targeted nanoparticles.

Based on development of nano-delivery system, co-delivery of chemotherapeutic drug and small interfering RNA (siRNA) has exerted a promising advantage in cancer therapy. In this work, the superiority of synergistic therapy and safety of the hierarchical targeted co-delivery system loaded with siRNA and lonidamine (LND) were evaluated. The in vivo tumor accumulation ability and cancer growth inhibition effect of the polymer-blend nanocarriers were evaluated by a H22 subcutaneous sarcoma model. Moreover, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) staining of tumor sections from each group were compared to assess the therapeutic efficacy. The dual-loaded nanocarriers had better tumor accumulation ability, remarkably inhibited growth of solid tumor in a synergistic manner, even significantly decreased hepatotoxicity of LND, and had good in vivo biocompatibility whereas LND alone showed serious hepatotoxicity. We believed that the dual-loaded hierarchical targeted delivery system with high effectiveness and biocompatibility would provide a promising approach for cancer combination therapy.