Fluorouracil neutrophil extracellular traps formation inhibited by polymer nanoparticle shielding

Abstract Venous thromboembolism is a frequent complication occurring in patients suffering from neoplastic diseases. Since neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) play an important role both in the development of the tumor growth process and in inducing complications such as thrombosis, indubitably the investigation of the effect of antitumor drugs on the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps and on the ability of such drugs to prevent NETs contribution on carcinogenesis is of great interest. In the present work we studied the effect of 5-fluorouracil (5FU) and its shielded -by amphiphilic poly-N-vinylpyrrolidone (Amph-PVP) nanoparticles-nanoscaled polymeric form on the activation of human neutrophils under ex vivo conditions. Free 5FU at concentrations varying from 0.01 to 10 mg/ml was found to cause a significant (two to three times) and rapid (after 20 min) increase in the total amount of NETs in the blood. Importantly, when 5FU-loaded Amph-PVP nanoparticles were studied under the same conditions, the appearance of NETs in the blood was completely blocked providing strong evidence of their potential as delivery system for 5FU in antitumor therapy.