Co-delivery of hydrophobic paclitaxel and hydrophilic AURKA specific siRNA by redox-sensitive micelles for effective treatment of breast cancer

In this study, a novel redox-sensitive micellar system constructed from a hyaluronic acid-based amphiphilic conjugate (HA-ss-(OA-g-bPEI), HSOP) was successfully developed for tumor-targeted co-delivery of paclitaxel (PTX) and AURKA specific siRNA (si-AURKA). HSOP exhibited excellent loading capacities for both PTX and siRNA with adjustable dosing ratios and desirable redox-sensitivity independently verified by morphological changes of micelles alongside in vitro release of both drugs in different reducing environments. Moreover, flow cytometry and confocal microscopy analysis confirmed that HSOP micelles were capable of simultaneously delivering PTX and siRNA into MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells via HA-receptor mediated endocytosis followed by rapid transport of cargoes into the cytosol. Successful delivery and transport amplified the synergistic effects between the drugs while leading to substantially greater antitumor efficacy when compared with single drug-loaded micelles and non-sensitive co-loaded micelles. In vivo investigation demonstrated that HSOP micelles could effectively accumulate in tumor sites and possessed the greatest antitumor efficacy over non-sensitive co-delivery control and redox-sensitive single-drug controls. These findings indicated that redox-sensitive HSOP co-delivery system holds great promise for combined drug/gene treatment for targeted cancer therapy.