Preparation And Characterization Of Curcumin Multi-functionalized Albumin-based Drug Delivery System

To efficiently improve the bioavailability of hydrophobic drugs and realize tumor targeting therapeutic actions,a nano-sized multi-functional albumin-based drug delivery system was constructed by a facile self-assembly strategy.Negatively charged cRGD conjugated bovine serum albumin(cRGD-BSA)loaded with a hydrophobic anti-tumor drug(curcumin,CUR)was complexed with positively charged protamine sulfate(PS)via electrostatic interaction to form CUR@cRGD-BSA/PS nanoparticles.Flow cytometry and confocal microscopy show the multi-functional CUR@cRGD-BSA/PS nanoparticles lead to significantly increased intracellular drug accumulation in tumor cells owing to the tumor targeting capability of cRGD ligands and membrane translocating property of PS.A s a result,the multi-functional albumin-based delivery system(CUR@cRGD-BSA/PS)exhibits apparently enhanced malignant cell inhibition efficiency as compared with free CUR and the mono-functional delivery system(CUR@cRGD-BSA).More importantly,the expression of proteins involved in tumor development(Bcl-2,Cyclin D1,β-catenin,c-Myc and MMP-9)in the tumor cells treated by CUR@cRGD-BSA/PS is dramatically down-regulated,implying the functional albumin-based drug delivery system can effectively prevent tumor progression.Our investigation provides a facile and promising strategy to construct multi-functional albumin-based drug delivery system for tumor targeting delivery of hydrophobic drugs,and it is promising to solve difficult application of hydrophobic drugs and improve its bioavailability.