Microneedle patch loaded with ferritin-nanocaged doxorubicin for locally targeted drug delivery and efficient skin cancer treatment--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

Li, F., Yang, Y., Yue, H., Wang, S., Zhang, X., & Wei, W. (2024). Microneedle patch loaded with ferritin-nanocaged doxorubicin for locally targeted drug delivery and efficient skin cancer treatment. Particuology, 88, 282-289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2023.09.017

Microneedle patch loaded with ferritin-nanocaged doxorubicin for locally targeted drug delivery and efficient skin cancer treatment

Feng Li ^{a b c}, Yuan Yang ^{a b}, Hua Yue ^{a b}, Shuang Wang ^{a b}, Xiao Zhang ^{a b *}, Wei Wei ^{a b c *}

a State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China
b Key Laboratory of Biopharmaceutical Preparation and Delivery, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China
c School of Chemical Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

10.1016/j.partic.2023.09.017

Volume 88, May 2024, Pages 282-289

Received 30 August 2023, Revised 20 September 2023, Accepted 26 September 2023, Available online 20 October 2023, Version of Record 9 November 2023.

E-mail: zhangxiao@ipe.ac.cn; weiwei@ipe.ac.cn

Highlights

• An iron core-assisted strategy to load doxorubicin (Dox) in ferritin (Fn), increasing loading amount was developed.

• We utilized a microneedle patch to deliver DoxFe@Fn into skin tumour with negligible leakage to other healthy organs.

• Released DoxFe@Fn bound to CD71 highly expressed on tumour cells, thus efficiently ferrying Dox into tumour cells.

• Our materials were endogenous or Food and Drug Administration-approved, conferring good biocompatibility and clinical translational potential.

Abstract

Ferritin has emerged as a promising nanocarrier for delivering therapeutic agents to tumours. However, the limited drug loading and the off-target impacts after systemic administration remain challenges for cancer treatment with ferritin-based agents. Herein, we develop a microneedle patch loaded with ferritin-nanocaged doxorubicin (DoxFe@Fn/MN) for skin cancer treatment. Briefly, doxorubicin (Dox) is encapsulated in ferritin (Fn) using an iron core-assisted strategy, which results in a 3.4-fold increase in Dox loading compared to the direct loading method. Then, a polyvinyl alcohol-based microneedle (MN) patch is used for the transdermal delivery of DoxFe@Fn, enabling targeted tumour accumulation of DoxFe@Fn and preventing off-target impacts. The released DoxFe@Fn can bind to CD71 highly expressed on skin cancer cells, facilitating its uptake. As a result, the DoxFe@Fn/MN therapy presents a robust antitumour effect in a melanoma tumour model, showing its potential as a promising therapeutic modality for skin cancer treatment.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Ferritin; Microneedle; Skin cancer; Drug delivery

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