In the present study, we devised a strategy that paclitaxel (PTX) with lipid and octadecylamine were prepared to lipid nanoparticle (PTX-LNP) with positive charge, folic acid-modified bovine serum albumin (FB)-coated surface of PTX-LNP through electrostatic attraction and generated the lipoprotein-mimicking nanocomplex (FB-PTX-LNP) for dual-targeting therapy. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as the protein model due to its specific targeting to tumor by increased transendothelial gp60-mediated transport and increased intratumoral accumulation as a result of the secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC)-albumin interaction. The further conjugating folic acid to BSA achieved the dual active targeting. In vitro cytotoxicity tests suggested FB-PTX-LNP and BSA-PTX-LNP exhibited significantly higher cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 and HepG2 cells compared to PTX-LNP. The cellular uptake experiments indicated that FB-coumarin-6-LNP modified with dual-targeting had a faster and greater cellular uptake when compared to BSA-coumarin-6-LNP and coumarin-6-LNP by MCF-7 cells. Thus, both BSA and FA did play roles in in vitro cytotoxicity and cellular uptake. Furthermore, the targeting ability and therapeutic efficacy of FB-PTX-LNP were assessed in vivo. FB-PTX-LNP produced very marked targeting ability and anti-tumor activity in MDA-MB-231 tumor-bearing mice. These results indicate the protein-lipid nanocomplex FB-PTX-LNP is a potential nanocarrier for Paclitaxel dual-targeting to tumor.
