An Effective Liposome-Based Nanodelivery System for Naphthalene Derivative Polyamines with Antitumor Activity

Sep 21, 2026

Development of a liposome-based nanodelivery system aimed to encapsulate polyamine-1 to improve its therapeutic and imaging performance. The formulation incorporated a gadolinium complex to enable imaging and a fluorescent phospholipid for tracking. Nanoparticles were characterized by size, morphology, polydispersity index, zeta potential, and encapsulation efficiency. In vitro assays compared cytotoxicity of free versus encapsulated polyamine-1 across cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines. T1-weighted MRI showed increased signal intensity for gadolinium-loaded liposomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background: cancer burden and targeted therapy

Polyamines in tumor progression and molecular interactions

Rationale for polyamine analogues and naphthalene-based agents

biomolecules Article An Effective Liposome-Based Nanodelivery System for Naphthalene Derivative Polyamines with Antitumor Activity Isabel Pont 1, Rubén Felipe 1, Juan C. Frías 2, Javier U. Chicote 3,*, Antonio García-España 3, Enrique García-España 1 and M. Teresa Albelda 4, * Citation: Pont, I.; Felipe, R.; Frías, J.C.; Chicote, J.U.; García-España, A.; García-España, E.; Albelda, M.T. An Effective Liposome-Based Nanodelivery System for Naphthalene Derivative Polyamines with Antitumor Activity. Biomolecules 2024, 14, 1347. [https://](https://)[ ](https://)[doi.org/10.3390/biom14111347](doi.org/10.3390/biom14111347) Academic Editor: Aleksander Czogalla Received: 24 September 2024 Revised: 10 October 2024 Accepted: 17 October 2024 Published: 23 October 2024 Copyright: © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons.org/licenses/by/](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[ ](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[4.0/](4.0/)) . 1 Instituto de Ciencia Molecular, Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Universidad de Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain; [isabel.pont@uv.es](isabel.pont@uv.es) (I.P.); [rufedo@alumni.uv.es](rufedo@alumni.uv.es) (R.F.); enrique.garcia-es@uv.es (E.G.-E.) 2 Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities, 46115 Alfara del Patriarca, Spain; [juan.frias@uchceu.es](juan.frias@uchceu.es) 3 Unitat de Recerca, Hospital Joan XXIII, Institut de Investigació Sanitaria Pere Virgili (IISPV), Universitat Roviri i Virgili, 43002 Tarragona, Spain; [antoniogem85@gmail.com](antoniogem85@gmail.com) 4 Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Valencia, 46010 Burjassot, Spain * [Correspondence: jugarte@piushospital.cat](Correspondence: jugarte@piushospital.cat) (J.U.C.); teresa.albelda@uv.es (M.T.A.) Abstract: This study focuses on the development of a novel liposome-based nanodelivery system designed to encapsulate polyamine-1, a compound with potential anti-tumor properties. The main objective of this work was to enhance the therapeutic and imaging potential of polyamine-1 by incorporating it into liposome-based nanoparticles, which were functionalized with a gadolinium complex for imaging purposes and a fluorescent phospholipid for tracking applications. These nanoparticles were characterized by measuring their size, shape, polydispersity index, zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency. In vitro experiments were conducted to evaluate the antitumor activity, specifically determining the cytotoxicity of both free and encapsulated polyamine-1 in cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines. Additionally, the study shows the enhanced signal intensity of gadoliniumloaded liposomes by T1-weighted MRI, highlighting their imaging potential. The experimental results suggest that this liposome-based nanodelivery system not only has therapeutic potential in targeted cancer therapy but also could be advantageous for diagnostic imaging, particularly in MRI applications. Keywords: liposomes; polyamines; cytotoxicity; cancer cells 1. Introduction Cancer is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2022 [1] . The incidence of this disease is increasing rapidly; there were an estimated 14.1 million cancer cases worldwide in 2012, and an estimated 35 million new cancer cases are expected by 2050 [2] . Advances in treatment and early detection have been crucial to improve survival for patients [3–6] . But, since the majority of tumors are heterogeneous and many cancers contain a small population of cells highly tumorigenic and intrinsically drug-resistant, widely used treatments such as chemotherapy require the use of relatively high doses of anti-cancer drugs, which produces an unwanted strong non-specific toxicity [7,8]

FAQs

What is the main goal of the liposome-based nanodelivery system?

To encapsulate polyamine-1 in liposome-based nanoparticles to enhance its therapeutic and imaging potential.

How were the nanoparticles evaluated for physicochemical properties?

They were characterized by measuring size, morphology, polydispersity index, zeta potential, and encapsulation efficiency.

What evidence supports imaging potential in this study?

Gadolinium-loaded liposomes produced enhanced signal intensity in T1-weighted MRI, indicating imaging capability.

Sep 21, 2026

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