| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
MS&T22: Materials Science & Technology
|
| Symposium
|
Society for Biomaterials: Biological Response to Materials and Material’s Response to Biological Environments
|
| Presentation Title |
Targeting Cancer-associated Fibroblasts within a Tumor Microenvironment via Liposomes with Arginine-based Surface Modifiers |
| Author(s) |
Tanzeel Ur Rehman, Kaitlin M Bratlie |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Tanzeel Ur Rehman |
| Abstract Scope |
Fibroblasts are critical in wound healing as they synthesize extracellular matrix, collagen, and support the wound healing process by differentiating into myofibroblast phenotype. Myofibroblasts promote wound healing and wound closure; however, in the presence of cancer, myofibroblasts can act as cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) enhancing tumor progression, metastasis and developing resistance to chemo- and radiotherapy drugs. Therefore, there is need to synthesize drug delivery vehicles that can actively target CAFs, while being more toxic towards CAFs compared to fibroblasts. Here, we used 17 arginine derivatives to modify the surface of doxorubicin-loaded DOPE: DOPC liposomes and examined the toxicity and cell internalization using both fibroblasts and activated myofibroblasts phenotype. Promising results suggested that these arginine-like molecules can be used to specifically target CAFs compared to fibroblasts with a higher toxicity and cell internalization. This work attests to the significance of investigating the interactions of modified and unmodified liposomes with fibroblasts and myofibroblasts. |