Study of the combined treatment of lung cancer using gene-loaded immunomagnetic albumin nanospheres in vitro and in vivo

Hao Zhang,1 Chen Liang,2 Xinxin Hou,3 Ling Wang,1 Dongsheng Zhang41Department of Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 2Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 3Department of Pathology, Medical School of Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan, 4Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biomaterials andDevices, Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing, People’sRepublicof ChinaAbstract: Combination therapy for lung cancer has garnered widespread attention. Radiation therapy, gene therapy, and molecular targeted therapy for lung cancer have certain effects, but the disadvantages of these treatment methods are evident. Combining these methods can decrease their side effects and increase their curative effects. In this study, we constructed a pYr-ads-8-5HRE-cfosp-iNOS-IFNG plasmid (a gene circuit that can express IFNγ), which is a gene circuit, and used that plasmid together with C225 (cetuximab) to prepare gene-loaded immunomagnetic albumin nanospheres (IMANS). Moreover, we investigated the therapeutic effects of gene-loaded IMANS in combination with radiation therapy on human lung cancer in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that this gene circuit was successively constructed and confirmed that the expression of INFγ was increased due to the gene circuit. Gene-loaded IMANS combined with radiation therapy demonstrated improved results in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, gene-loaded IMANS enhanced the efficacy of combination therapy, solved problems related to gene transfer, and specifically targeted lung cancer cells.Keywords: gene circuit, combination therapy, magnetic albumin nanospheres