Enhancement of efficacy and selectivity of chemopreventive compounds in human breast cancer cells by using immunoliposomes

Abstract

Trastuzumab targets the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), which is overexpressed in 20-30% of breast and ovarian cancers carrying a bad prognosis. Our purpose was to target HER2-overexpressing human breast cancer cells with pegylated immunoliposomes bearing trastuzumab and containing bioactive compounds. Using two breast cancer cell lines, with different HER2 expression levels, these immunoliposomes decreased cancer cells viability in a dose-response manner and in correlation to their level of HER2 expression.