Drug pH-sensitive release in vitro and targeting ability of polyamidoamine dendrimer complexes for tumor cells

Recently, dendrimers have been widely used in medical applications such as drug delivery and gene transfection. In this study, a pH-sensitive diblock copolymer of poly(methacryloyl sulfadimethoxine) (PSD) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) modified by lactose (LA-PEG-b-PSD) was synthesized. The pK(a) value of the LA-PEG-b-PSD was also measured. Then, polyamidoamine (PAMAM) complexes were prepared with PAMAM (G4.0) and LA-PEG-b-PSD by electrostatic interaction. To investigate drug pH-sensitive release in vitro, doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded in PAMAM. A higher drug cumulative release from LA-PEG-b-PSD/PAMAM complexes in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) was found at pH 6.5 than at pH 7.4. The cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of PAMAM complexes were investigated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and confocal microscopy. LA-PEG-b-PSD/PAMAM/DOX complexes were able to enhance the cytotoxicity of DOX against HepG2 cells at pH 7.4. Confocal microscopy showed a higher cellular uptake of PEG-b-PSD/PAMAM complexes at pH 6.5. PAMAM complexes modified by lactose showed a higher affinity for hepatic cancer cells than those without lactose at pH 7.4. These results suggest that LA-PEG-b-PSD/PAMAM complexes exhibit selective targeting and cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells. In vivo antitumor studies showed that the LA-PEG-b-PSD/PAMAM/DOX complexes displayed higher antitumor efficacy compared with non-targeted PAMAM/DOX and DOX solution. These results indicate that this strategy should be applicable to the treatment of liver cancers.