Glycyrrhizin-modified O-carboxymethyl chitosan nanoparticles as drug vehicles targeting hepatocellular carcinoma

Here we describe the O-carboxymethyl chitosan nanoparticles (CMCNP) modified by glycyrrhizin (GL) with various substitution degrees as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-targeted delivery vehicles, which could efficiently deliver paclitaxel (PTX) into HCC. The resultant CMCNP-GL exhibited spherical in shape and high stability in plasma with fixed negative charged (∼−30 mV) and a size range of 100–205 nm. PTX was loaded into CMCNP-GL with a maximal encapsulation efficiency of 83.7% and performed a biphasic release. CMCNP-GL promoted liver cancer SMMC-7721 cell internalization by approximate 10.0-fold as compared to unmodified CMCNP. Within 72 h, the IC50 of PTX/CMCNP-GL, PTX/CMCNP, and PTX injection was 2.7–3.2, 8.1, and 13.5 μg/mL, respectively. Biodistribution experiments revealed that PTX/CMCNP-GL exerted significantly superior targeting to tumor than PTX/CMCNP. The in vivo tumor inhibition ratio of PTX/CMCNP-GL was 87.5%, showing remarkably higher than that of PTX/CMCNP (64.0%) and PTX injection (34.5%). CMCNP-GL with different substitution degrees possessed similar targeting property and therapeutic efficacy. Furthermore, toxicity studies suggested that blank CMCNP-GL had no systemic or hepatic toxicity.