Neurotensin receptor 1 facilitates intracellular and transepithelial delivery of macromolecules

Joanna L. Bird, Rachael Simpson, Driton Vllasaliu, Alan D. Goddard

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

G protein-coupled receptors are expressed on the surface of eukaryotic cells and internalise in response to ligand binding. The actions of the hormone and neurotransmitter neurotensin (NT) are predominantly mediated by specific interactions with one such receptor. Neurotensin receptor 1 (NTS1), which is upregulated in a variety of cancers, including pancreatic and breast tumours. NTS1 could therefore serve as a target for selective delivery of therapeutics. This study characterised the expression of NTS1 in HEK293 cells, as well as both polarised and non-polarised intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells. NT-conjugated fluorophores were internalised in NTS1-expressing HEK293 and Caco-2 cells in a receptor-mediated fashion. Confocal microscopy revealed fluorophore localisation in the perinuclear region. Cell uptake and transport across the Caco-2 intestinal model of two NT-conjugated fluorophores (GFP and fluorescein) were compared to evaluate the effect of cargo size on cellular uptake. This work demonstrates that NT ligand conjugation is able to deliver relatively large macromolecular cargoes selectively into cells overexpressing NTS1 and the system is able to effectively translocate macromolecules across an intestinal epithelial model. NTS1 therefore shows potential as a drug delivery target not only for targeted but also non-invasive (oral) delivery of biotherapeutics for cancer.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)300-309
Number of pages10
JournalEuropean Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics
Volume119
Early online date6 Jul 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2017

Bibliographical note

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Keywords

  • Journal Article

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Neurotensin receptor 1 facilitates intracellular and transepithelial delivery of macromolecules'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this