hGC33-Modified and Sorafenib-Loaded Nanoparticles have a Synergistic Anti-Hepatoma Effect by Inhibiting Wnt Signaling Pathway
Jing Shen, Wenpeng Cai, Yongfang Ma, Ruyue Xu, Zhen Huo, Song Li, Xinyin Qiu, Yinci Zhang, Amin Li, Weiya Cao, Shuping Zhou, Xiaolong Tang
Abstract
Abstract Delivery of tumor-specific inhibitors is a challenge in cancer treatment. Antibody-modified nanoparticles can deliver their loaded drugs to tumor cells that overexpress specific tumor-associated antigens. Here, we constructed sorafenib-loaded polyethylene glycol-b-PLGA polymer nanoparticles modified with antibody hGC33 to glypican-3 (GPC3 +), a membrane protein overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma. We found that hGC33-modified NPs (hGC33-SFB-NP) targeted GPC3 + hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells by specifically binding to GPC3 on the surface of HCC cells, inhibited Wnt-induced signal transduction, and inhibited HCC cells in G0/1 by down-regulating cyclin D1 expression, thus attenuating HCC cell migration by inhibiting epithelial–mesenchymal transition. hGC33-SFB-NP inhibited the migration, cycle progression, and proliferation of HCC cells by inhibiting the Ras/Raf/MAPK pathway and the Wnt pathway in tandem with GPC3 molecules, respectively. hGC33-SFB-NP inhibited the growth of liver cancer in vivo and improved the survival rate of tumor-bearing mice. We conclude that hGC33 increases the targeting of SFB-NP to HCC cells. hGC33-SFB-NP synergistically inhibits the progression of HCC by blocking the Wnt pathway and the Ras/Raf/MAPK pathway.