Apatinib is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor, which selectively targets vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 and has the potential to treat many tumors therapeutically. Cyclic arginylglycylaspartic acid (cRGD)- and polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified liposomes (cRGD-Lipo-PEG) were constructed to act as a targeted delivery system for the delivery of apatinib to the human colonic cancer cell line, HCT116. These cRGD-modified liposomes specifically recognized integrin α_vβ₃ and exhibited greater uptake efficiency with respect to delivering liposomes into HCT116 cells when compared to nontargeted liposomes (Lipo-PEG), as well as greater death of tumor cells and apoptosis. The mechanism by which cRGD-Lipo-PEG targets cells was elucidated further with competition assays. To determine the anticancer efficacy in vivo, nude mice were implanted with HCT116 xenografts and treated with apatinib-loaded liposomes or free apatinib intravenously or via intragastric administration. The active and passive targeting of cRGD-Lipo-PEG led to significant tumor treatment targeting ability, better inhibition of tumor growth, and less toxicity when compared with treatments using uncombined apatinib. The results presented strongly support the case for cRGD-Lipo-PEG representing a targeted delivery system for apatinib in the treatment of colonic cancer.

Mounting evidence highlights long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) as crucial regulators in multiple types of biological processes and contributing to tumourigenesis. LINC01133, located in chromosome 1q23.2, was a recently identified novel lncRNA with a length of 1154nt. It was involved in the development of colorectal cancer and non‐small cell lung cancer. However, its clinical relevance, biological functions and potential molecular mechanism in breast cancer are still unclear. In this study, we found that the LINC01133 expression was significantly down‐regulated in breast cancer samples and was associated with progression and poor prognosis of breast cancer. Further experiments demonstrated that overexpression of LINC01133 inhibited invasion and metastasis in breast cancer both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic investigations revealed that LINC01133 repressed SOX4 expression by recruiting EZH2 to SOX4 promoter. Moreover, rescue experiments further confirmed that LINC01133 functional acted as an anti‐oncogene, at least partly, via repressing SOX4 in breast cancer. Taken together, these findings imply that LINC01133 could serve as a novel prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target for breast cancer.