Ursolic acid-loaded chitosan nanoparticles induce potent anti-angiogenesis in tumor

Angiogenesis provides necessary nutrients and oxygen for tumor growth and metastasis; thus, every stage of angiogenesis process is the potential target for cancer therapies. Ursolic acid (UA) is reported to decrease tumor burden through anti-angiogenesis pathway, but its poor water solubility greatly limits its efficiency and clinical application. Here, a simple method for preparing UA-loaded chitosan nanoparticles (CH-UA-NPs) with anti-angiogenesis and antitumor activity was demonstrated. In vitro, CH-UA-NPs could significantly inhibit the proliferation, migration, and tube formation of human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs). After uptake by HUVECs, CH-UA-NPs were mainly localized in lysosomes and mitochondria, but not nuclei. CH-UA-NPs induced the destruction of lysosome membrane integrity, collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential, and reorganization of cell cytoskeleton. All these changes led to the apoptosis or necrosis in HUVECs. In vivo, CH-UA-NPs could inhibit the angiogenesis in chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model and H22 xenograft model. Notably, comparing with free UA, such synthesized CH-UA-NPs could save about tenfold of UA doses, implying that this could significantly decrease the side effects induced by high doses of UA in biological organism. Our data showed that CH-UA-NPs and this nanoparticle-based drug delivery system could be as a potential drug candidate for antiangiogenesis treatment.