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Nanoparticles (NPs) were widely used in drugs/probes delivery for improved disease diagnosis and/or treatment. Targeted delivery to cancer cells is a highly attractive application of NPs. However, few studies have been performed on the targeting mechanisms of these ligand-modified delivery systems. Additional studies are needed to understand the transport of nanoparticles in the cancer site, the interactions between nanoparticles and cancer cells, the intracellular trafficking of nanoparticles within the cancer cells and the subcellular destiny and potential toxicity. Interleukin 13 (IL-13) peptide can specifically bind IL-13Rα2, a receptor that is highly expressed on glioma cells but is expressed at low levels on other normal cells. It was shown that the nanoparticels modification with the IL-13 peptide could improve glioma treatment by selectively increasing cellular uptake, facilitating cell internalization, altering the uptake pathway and increasing glioma localization.
Gao et al. (2014) studied this question.