Preparation of a Novel Multifunctional Cationic Liposome Drug-carrying System and its Functional Study on Lung Cancer

Background: Low-dose chemotherapy is a promising treatment strategy that may be improved by controlled delivery. Objective: This study aimed to design polyethylene glycol-stabilized bilayer-decorated magnetic Cationic Liposomes (CLs) as a drug delivery system for integrated functional studies of lung cancer cell therapy and imaging. Methods: A novel multifunctional folic acid targeting magnetic CLs docetaxel drug-loading system (FA-CLs-Fe- DOC) was prepared and tested for its physical properties, encapsulation rate and drug release performance. The feasibility of FA-CLs-Fe-DOC ability to inhibit tumor cells and act as an MRI contrast agent was investigated in vitro, and the target recognition and therapeutic ability of FA-CLs-Fe-DOC was studied in vivo. Results: FA-CLs-Fe-DOC had a particle size of 221.54 ± 6.42 nm and a potential of 28.64 ± 3.56 mv, with superparamagnetic properties and better stability. The encapsulation rate was 95.36 ± 1.63%, and the drug loading capacity was 9.52 ± 0.22%, which possessed the drug slow-release performance and low cytotoxicity and could effectively inhibit the proliferation of lung cancer cells, promoting apoptosis of lung cancer cells. MRI showed that it had the function of tracking and localization of lung cancer cells. In vivo experiments confirmed the targeted recognition property and therapeutic function of lung cancer cells. Conclusion: In this study, we successfully prepared an FA-CLs-Fe-DOC capable of specifically targeting lung cancer cells with integrated functions of efficient lung cancer cell killing and imaging localization. This targeted drug packaging technology may provide a new strategy for the design of integrated carriers for targeted cancer therapy and imaging.