Fig. 3

Modification of LFC131 enhanced cellular uptake of NPs in CXCR4-expressing HCC cells. Flow cytometric analysis of SMMC-7721 cells (a) and Huh7 cells (b) incubated with free C6, C6-NPs and LFC-C6-NPs for 1 h, 2 h and 4 h. The data were shown by flow cytometric images (lower panels) and quantitative analysis by the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) for each sample (upper panels). Flow cytometric analysis of SMMC-7721 and Huh7 cells treated with LFC-C6-NPs (c) and C6-NPs (d) in the presence of free LFC-131 peptide (0.5 and 1 mg/ml). e Confocal microscopy images of intracellular C6 distribution in SMMC-7721 cells after incubation with the above formulations for 2 h. C6 (green) was used as a fluorescent probe; the nucleus of cells was stained with DAPI (blue). f HPLC analysis of intracellular accumulation of sorafenib and metapristone in SMMC-7721 cells after exposure to different formulations (sorafenib at a concentration of 20 μM; metapristone at a concentration of 100 μM) for 2 h. Data are expressed as the mean ± SD (n = 3). ***P < 0.001. All experiments were repeated at least three times