Abstract

Targeted Drug Delivery to Lung Cancer with Surface Modified and Antibody – Functionalized Chitosan Nanoparticles

Asha Srinivasan, MSc Course Coordinator , Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeswara University

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the one of the leading cause of lung cancer deaths in the India and world with a 5 year survival rate of only 15% for all stages of lung cancer combined making the cure rate <15%. Despite some recent advances in chemotherapeutic agents, the size and distribution of NSCLC makes cytoreductive surgery ineffective. Hence, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy have been major treatments of choice. However, toxicity due to chemotherapy still remains a major issue and an unmet medical challenge. Most often, the toxicity is the result of unexpected and unequal biodistribution of chemotherapeutic agents by normal tissues. The need for increased potency and selectivity in chemotherapy and targeted delivery is therefore of high importance in order to more fully harness the benefit of this modality of cancer treatment.

Targeted delivery of drug loaded chitosan nanoparticles surface modified with trastuzumab as “homing device” to the lung cancer cells provides a route to target deliver the encapsulated small molecule drug. Nanoparticles of different sizes were functionalized with anti-HER-2 monoclonal antibody (Herceptin) by covalent reaction. These nanoparticles were characterized using PCS, SEM, mass spectroscopy and immunofluorescence. Release kinetics of loaded drugs was elucidated. The ability to selectively deliver payload to cancer cells while avoiding normal was assessed in vitrousing different lung cancer cells. The findings from this work will be presented at the conference.