Abstract
The high accumulation of therapeutic agents in tumors is crucial for cancer treatment. Compared to the passive tumor-targeting effect, active tumor-targeting delivery systems, primarily mediated by peptides with high production costs and reduced circulation time, are highly desired. Platelets-driven technologies have opened new avenues for targeted drug delivery prevalently through membrane coating strategy that involves intricate manufacturing procedures or the fucoidan-mediated hitchhiking method with limited platelet affinity. Here, a novel type of amphiphilic glycopolymer self-assembled micellar nanoparticles has been developed to adhere on the natural activated platelets in blood. The simultaneous integration of fucose and sialic acid segments into the glycopolymers enables closer mimicry of the structure of P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1), thereby increasing the affinity for activated platelets.
It is resulting in the formation of Glycopolymeric-micelles-platelets hybrids, facilitating targeted drug delivery to tumors. The selective platelets-assisted cellular uptake of docetaxel (DTX)loaded glycopolymeric micelles, lead to lower IC 50 values against 4T1 cells than that of free DTX. The directed tumor-targeting effect of activated platelets has significantly improved the tumor accumulation capacity of the glycopolymeric nanoparticles, with up to 21.0% found in tumors within the initial 0.2 h. Additionally, with acid-responsive drug release and inherent antimetastasis properties, the glycopolymeric nanoparticles ensured potent therapeutic efficacy, prolonged survival time and reduced cardiotoxicity, presenting a new and unexplored strategy for platelet-directed drug delivery to tumors, showing promising prospects in treating localized tumors and preventing tumor metastasis.