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Theranostics 2013; 3(7):477-486. doi:10.7150/thno.6617 This issue Cite

Research Paper

Scavenger Receptor B1 is a Potential Biomarker of Human Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Its Growth is Inhibited by HDL-mimetic Nanoparticles

Ying Zheng^1,2,*, Yanyan Liu^3,4,*, Honglin Jin^1,2,*, Shaotao Pan^1,2, Yuan Qian^1,2, Chuan Huang^1,2, Yixin Zeng^3,4, Qingming Luo^1,2, Musheng Zeng^{3,4, ✉}, Zhihong Zhang^1,2,✉

1. Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China;
2. MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
3. State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China;
4. Department of Experimental Research, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
^* These authors contributed equally to this work.

✉ Corresponding author: czyzzhhust.edu.cn; zengmshorg.cn.

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a very regional malignant head and neck cancer that has attracted widespread attention for its unique etiology, epidemiology and therapeutic options. To achieve high cure rates in NPC patients, theranostic approaches are actively being pursued and improved efforts remain desirable in identifying novel biomarkers and establishing effective therapeutic approaches with low long-term toxicities. Here, we discovered that the scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-B1) was overexpressed in all investigated NPC cell lines and 75% of NPC biopsies, demonstrating that SR-B1 is a potential biomarker of NPC. Additional functional analysis showed that SR-B1 has great effect on cell motility while showing no significant impact on cell proliferation. As high-density lipoproteins (HDL) exhibit strong binding affinities to SR-B1 and HDL mimetic peptides are reportedly capable of inhibiting tumor growth, we further examined the SR-B1 targeting ability of a highly biocompatible HDL-mimicking peptide-phospholipid scaffold (HPPS) nanocarrier and investigated its therapeutic effect on NPC. Results show that NPC cells with higher SR-B1 expression have superior ability in taking up the core constituents of HPPS. Moreover, HPPS inhibited the motility and colony formation of 5-8F cells, and significantly suppressed the NPC cell growth in nude mice without inducing tumor cell necrosis or apoptosis. These results indicate that HPPS is not only a NPC-targeting nanocarrier but also an effective anti-NPC drug. Together, the identification of SR-B1 as a potential biomarker and the use of HPPS as an effective anti-NPC agent may shed new light on the diagnosis and therapeutics of NPC.

Keywords: Cancer theranostics, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, biomarker, SR-B1, lipoprotein nanocarrier.

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