Tumor-targeted delivery of honokiol via polysialic acid modified zein nanoparticles prevents breast cancer progression and metastasis

In this work, we developed polysialic acid (PSA) modified zein nanoparticles for targeted delivery of honokiol (HNK) to enhance drug delivery efficiency and specific biodistribution at tumor sites. The antisolvent precipitation and electrostatic interaction methods were employed to fabricate the PSA-Zein-HNK nanoparticles, which exhibited mean size of 107.2 ± 10.1 nm and HNK encapsulation efficiency of 79.2 ± 2.3%. The PSA-Zein-HNK maintained a uniform dispersion in serum for 48 h, implying the improved colloid stability of zein nanoparticles via PSA coating. The cellular uptake of PSA-Zein-Cou6 nanoparticles in 4 T1 cells was 2.58-fold higher than non-targeting Zein-Cou6. In addition, the IC