Hypoxia-responsive pullulan-based nanoparticles as erlotinib carriers

Abstract A hypoxia-responsive pullulan-based co-polymer was developed to assess its efficacy to deliver erlotinib (ERL) to the cervical cancer cells. Upon exposure to hypoxic condition, the synthesized and structurally characterized co-polymer i.e. succinyl pullulan-g-6-(2-nitroimidazole) hexylamine (Pull-SA-HA-NI) exhibited a hypochromic shift in the UV spectra and alteration in its self-assembled structures as compared to the control co-polymer, succinyl pullulan-g-hexylamine (Pull-SA-HA). Its corresponding ERL-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) displayed an attenuated crystallinity of pure ERL with excellent drug-trapping capacity (DEE, 94.23 ± 1.36%) and acceptable zeta potential (+39.21 ± 1.09 mV) and diameter (84.10 ± 2.10 nm) values. These also evidenced a faster drug release profile under hypoxic condition relative to the normoxic condition. The cellular internalization of the NPs was mediated through the energy-dependent endocytic process, which could utilize its multiple pathways (i.e., macropinocytosis, clathrin- and caveolae-mediated endocytosis). The ERL-loaded NPs suppressed HeLa cell proliferation and induced apoptosis more efficiently than the pristine drug.