Chitosan Nanoparticles Suppress Liver Cancer Growth

January 24, 2007

Nanoparticles made of chitosan, a naturally occuring polymer isolated from crab

and shrimp shells, have shown promise as carriers of anticancer drugs, antitumor

genes, and other novel therapeutic agents. In addition, chitosan nanoparticles

by themselves appear toxic to various types of malignant cells. To better

understand this latter observation, Lifeng Qi, Ph.D., at West Virginia

University, working with colleagues at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China,

has conducted a detailed study evaluating the effect of chitosan nanoparticles

on human liver cancer cells.

The investigators, who published the results of these studies in the European

Journal of Cancer, prepared chitosan nanoparticles with an average diameter of

40 nanometers and added various concentrations of these nanoparticles to human

liver cancer cells growing in culture. The researchers also administered

chitosan nanoparticles orally to mice bearing human liver tumors.

From these studies, the researchers found that chitosan nanoparticles are

capable of changing the composition of the cell membrane of malignant cells. The

investigators found that chitosan nanoparticles also neutralized the surface

charge of human liver tumor cells and altered the charge of the membrane

surrounding the cells’ mitochondria. The researchers noted that lipid metabolism

increased in the membranes of cells treated with these nanoparticles. The effect

of these changes in tumor cell membranes appears to retard the growth of tumors

growing in mice by as much as 60 percent. The fact that these nanoparticles were

delivered orally bodes well for future studies aimed at using chitosan

nanoparticles to deliver anticancer agents to tumors.

This work is detailed in a paper titled, “In vitro and in vivo suppression of

hepatocellular carcinoma growth by chitosan nanoparticles.” An abstract of this

paper is available through PubMed.

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