In Vitro Alendronate Delivery Using Liposomal Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Because to their magnetic properties, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) might be considered as a good delivery vehicle after grafting of their surface with a therapeutical drug. On the other hand, drug encapsulation into liposomes allows protection of the agent against enzymatic degradation, reduces the dose and toxics effects; however, a selective and controlled release of the drug out of the vesicles is still difficult to achieve. A combination of both properties (magnetic targeting and drug encapsulation) is proposed to deliver an anticancer drug, alendronate (an hydroxymethylene bisphosphonates molecule). Two human cancer cell lines, A431 and U87-MG, have been tested in vitro with various alendronate formulations: on both cell lines, an effective 100% cytotoxic effect could only be achieved with alendronate grafted-SPION entrapped into liposomes and within a magnetic field.