Comparison of passive targeted delivery of inorganic and organic nanocarriers among different types of tumors

In this study, we have considered four types of nanoparticles (NPs): polylactic acid (PLA), gold (Au), calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and silica (SiO2) with similar sizes (TEM: 50–110 nm and DLS: 110–140 nm) to examine their passive accumulation in three different tumors: colon (CT26), melanoma (B16-F10), and breast (4T1) cancers. Our results demonstrate that each tumor model showed a different accumulation of NPs, in the following order: CT26 > B16-F10 > 4T1. The Au and PLA NPs were evidently characterized by a higher delivery efficiency in case of CT26 tumors compared to CaCO3 and SiO2 NPs. The Au NPs demonstrated the highest accumulation in B16-F10 cells compared to other NPs. These results were verified using SPECT, ex vivo fluorescence bioimaging, direct radiometry and histological analysis. Thus, this work contributes to new knowledge in passive tumor targeting of NPs and can be used for the development of new strategies of tumor delivery.