Inhibition of metastatic tumor growth by targeted delivery of antioxidant enzymes

To develop effective anti-metastatic therapy, targeted or sustained delivery of catalase was examined in mice. We found that mouse lung with metastatic colonies of adenocarcinoma colon26 cells exhibited reduced catalase activity. The interaction of the tumor cells with macrophages or hepatocytes generated detectable amounts of ROS, and increased the activity of matrix metalloproteinases. Hepatocyte-targeted delivery of catalase was successfully achieved by galactosylation, which was highly effective in inhibiting the hepatic metastasis of colon26 cells. PEGylation, which increased the retention of catalase in the circulation, effectively inhibited the pulmonary metastasis of the cells. To examine which processes in tumor metastasis are inhibited by catalase derivatives, the tissue distribution and proliferation of tumor cells in mice was quantitatively analyzed using firefly luciferase-expressing tumor cells. An injection of PEG-catalase just before the inoculation of melanoma B16-BL6/Luc cells significantly reduced the number of the tumor cells in the lung at 24 h. Daily dosing of PEG-catalase greatly inhibited the proliferation of the tumor cells, and increased the survival rate of the tumor-bearing mice. These results indicate that targeted or sustained delivery of catalase to sites where tumor cells metastasize is a promising approach for inhibiting metastatic tumor growth.