Selective Accumulation of Galactomannan Amphiphilic Nanomaterials in Pediatric Solid Tumor Xenografts Correlates with GLUT1 Gene Expression

In this work, we designed, characterized, and investigated the performance of hydrolyzed galactomannan (hGM)-based amphiphilic nanoparticles for selective intratumoral accumulation in pediatric patient-derived sarcomas. To create a self-assembly amphiphilic copolymer, the side chain of hGM was hydrophobized with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) by utilizing a graft free radical polymerization reaction. Different hGM and MMA weight feeding ratios were used to adjust the critical aggregation concentration and the size and size distribution of the nanoparticles. The ability to actively target glucose transporter-1 (GLUT-1) was studied by fluorescence confocal microscopy and imaging flow cytometry in vitro on Rh30 (rhabdomyosarcoma) and patient-derived Ewing sarcoma (HSJD-ES-001) cell lines with different expression levels of GLUT-1. Results confirmed that the nanoparticles are internalized by ∼100% of the cells at 37 °C. Furthermore, we investigated the biodistribution of the nanoparticles in pediatric patient-derived models of two deadly musculoskeletal tumors, rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma. Outstandingly, the intratumoral accumulation of the nanoparticles correlated very well with the expression level of GLUT1 gene in each patient-derived tumor (P = 0.0141; Pearson’s correlation test). Finally, we demonstrated the encapsulation capacity of these nanoparticles by loading 7.5% (w/w) of the hydrophobic first-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib. These findings point out the potential of this new type of nanoparticle to target GLUT-1-expressing tumors and selectively deliver anticancer agents.