Targeted therapy of colorectal neoplasia with rapamycin in peptide-labeled pegylated octadecyl lithocholate micelles

Many powerful drugs have limited clinical utility because of poor water solubility and high systemic toxicity. Here, we formulated a targeted nanomedicine, rapamycin encapsulated in pegylated octadecyl lithocholate micelles labeled with a new ligand for colorectal neoplasia, LTTHYKL peptide. CPC;Apc mice that spontaneously develop colonic adenomas were treated with free rapamycin, plain rapamycin micelles, and peptide-labeled rapamycin micelles via intraperitoneal injection for 35 days. Endoscopy was performed to monitor adenoma regression in vivo. We observed complete adenoma regression at the end of therapy. The mean regression rate for peptide-labeled rapamycin micelles was significantly greater than that for plain rapamycin micelles, P < 0.01. On immunohistochemistry, we observed a significant reduction in phospho-S6 but not β-catenin expression and reduced tumor cell proliferation, suggesting greater inhibition of downstream mTOR signaling. We observed significantly reduced renal toxicity for peptide-labeled rapamycin micelles compared to that of free drug, and no other toxicities were found on chemistries. Together, this unique targeted micelle represents a potential therapeutic for colorectal neoplasia with comparable therapeutic efficacy to rapamycin free drug and significantly less systemic toxicity.