The use of liposomes functionalized with the NFL-TBS.40-63 peptide as a targeting agent to cross the in vitro blood-brain barrier and target glioblastoma cells.

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive brain tumor. Current treatments do not allow to cure the patients. This is partly due to the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which limits the delivery of drugs to the pathological site. To overcome this, we developed liposomes functionalized with a neurofilament-derived peptide, NFL-TBS.40-63 (NFL), known for its highly selective targeting of glioblastoma cells. First, in vitro BBB model was developed to check whether the NFL can also promote barrier crossing in addition to its active targeting capacity. Permeability experiments showed that the NFL peptide was able to cross the BBB. Moreover, when the BBB was in a pathological situation, i.e., an in vitro blood-brain tumor barrier (BBTB), the passage of the NFL peptide was greater while maintaining its glioblastoma targeting capacity. When the NFL peptide was associated to liposomes, it enhanced their ability to be internalized into glioblastoma cells after passage through the BBTB, compared to liposomes without NFL. The cellular uptake of liposomes was limited in the endothelial cell monolayer in comparison to the glioblastoma one. These data indicated that the NFL peptide is a promising cell-penetrating peptide tool when combined with drug delivery systems for the treatment of glioblastoma.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Competing Interest Joël Eyer is one of the inventors of the NFL-TBS.40-63 peptide used in the article (WO2005121172 and WO2011073207A1) and to which GlioCure SA holds exclusive worldwide rights. Joël Eyer and Claire Lépinoux-Chambaud are cofounders of GlioCure SA and hold shares of the company. In addition, Adélie Mellinger, Claire Gazaille and Claire Lépinoux-Chambaud are employees of GlioCure SA..