Enhanced Delivery of the RAPTA-C Macromolecular Chemotherapeutic by Conjugation to Degradable Polymeric Micelles

Macromolecular ruthenium complexes are a promising avenue to better and more selective chemotherapeutics. We have previously shown that RAPTA-C [RuCl2(p-cymene)-(PTA)], with the water-soluble 1,3,5-phosphaadamantane (PTA) ligand, could be attached to a polymer moiety via nucleophilic substitution of an available iodide with an amide in the PTA ligand. To increase the cell uptake of this macromolecule, we designed an amphiphilic block copolymer capable of self-assembling into polymeric micelles. The block copolymer was prepared by ring-opening polymerization of D,L-lactide (3,6-dimethy1-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione) using a RAFT agent with an additional hydroxyl functionality, followed by the RAFT copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) and 2-chloroethyl methacrylate (CEMA). The Finkelstein reaction and reaction with PTA led to polymers that can readily react with the dimer of RuCl2(p-cymene) to create a macromolecular RAPTA-C drug. RAPTA-C conjugation, micellization, and subsequent cytotoxicity and cell uptake of these polymeric moieties was tested on ovarian cancer A2780, A2780cis, and Ovcar-3 cell lines. Confocal microscopy images confirmed cell uptake of the micelles into the lysosome of the cells, indicative of an endocytic pathway. On average, a 10-fold increase in toxicity was found for the macromolecular drugs when compared to the RAPTA-C molecule. Furthermore, the cell uptake of ruthenium was analyzed and a significant increase was found for the micelles compared to RAPTA-C. Notably, micelles prepared from the polymer containing fewer HEA units had the highest cytotoxicity, the best cell uptake of ruthenium and were highly effective in suppressing the colony-forming ability of cells.