Chloroquine-Modified Hydroxyethyl Starch as a Polymeric Drug for Cancer Therapy.

ABSTRACT: Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) is a clinically used polysaccharide colloidal plasma volume expander. The goal of this study was to synthesize HES modified with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a novel polymeric drug with the ability to inhibit the invasive character of pancreatic cancer (PC) cells. HES was conjugated with HCQ using a simple carbonyldiimidazole coupling to prepare Chloroquine-modified HES (CQ-HES). CQ-HES with various degrees of HCQ substitution were synthesized and characterized. Atomic force microscopy was used to demonstrate a pH-dependent assembly of CQ-HES into well-defined nanoparticles. In vitro studies in multiple PC cell lines showed CQ-HES to have a similar toxicity profile as HCQ. Confocal microscopy revealed the propensity of CQ-HES to localize to lysosomes and mechanisti

SUBMITTER: Sleightholm R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5996760 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature