A novel cholchicine/gadolinium-loading tubulin self-assembly nanocarrier for MR imaging and chemotherapy of glioma.

ABSTRACT

To enhance the therapeutic efficiency and reduce side effects from drug delivery and chemotherapy, image-guided nanoscale systems have attracted tremendous attention in recent decades. In this study, we developed a novel method to fabricate a colchicine/gadolinium-loaded tubulin self-assembly nanocarrier (Col-Gd@Tub NC) for the image-guided chemotherapy of glioma. The Col-Gd@Tub NCs were spontaneously formed via tubulin self-assembly and were subsequently functionalized by colchicine and gadolinium elements. These resultant Col-Gd@Tub NCs with a diameter of 45 nm exhibited uniform particle size distribution and favorable stability without any leakage of gadolinium in water. Meanwhile, the introduction of gadolinium endowed Col-Gd@Tub NCs with high T 1-weighted MRI performance in vitro. After tail vein injection, Col-Gd@Tub NCs exhibited excellent MRI contrast capability and relatively long circulation time (∼12 h) and were finally cleared out from the bladder. More significantly, the binding colchicine still exerted an anti-tumor effect after the Col-Gd@Tub NCs were taken up by the tumor cells. These results show that the Col-Gd@Tub NCs may be served as a versatile nanoscale platform for the integration of biomedical imaging probes and therapeutic molecules for tumor therapy.