Development of nanocarriers for intracellular delivery of protein drugs

Resumo

Chemotherapy is still the principal treatment option for metastatic tumors. However, due to its side effects, alternative therapies are being studied. In this regard, the use of nano-encapsulated proteins increase the specificity and the efficacy of the therapy. In fact, proteins are highly specific and selective, while the nanocarriers could favor several advantages in term of tumor targeting and penetration, drug protection and enhanced half-life. Hence, the formation of hyaluronic acid based nanocarriers encapsulating proteins is presented in this manuscript. The nanocarriers have been initially used for encapsulating model proteins (BSA and IgG). Several formulation technologies have been tested and the obtained knowledge have been finally used for associating the monoclonal antibody bevacizumab. It has been demonstrated that this last formulation is internalized by a breast cancer cell line while no significant effects have been obtained in vivo (breast cancer mice model) compare to the negative controls.