Systemic Co-delivery of drugs by a pH- and photosensitive smart nanocarrier to treat cancer by chemo-photothermal-starvation combination therapy
Yixuan Liu, Min Ding, Kai Guo, Zheng‐Ming Wang, Chengfei Zhang, Quazi T.H. Shubhra
Abstract
Herein, we report the development of a drug delivery system (DDS) that can be very efficiently targeted to a breast cancer site by both aptamer and external magnetic field to achieve chemo-photothermal-starvation combination effects. Cancer starvation agent glucose oxidase was chemically attached to synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) which were entrapped inside PLGA polymer along with Doxorubicin. To achieve photothermal property, the surface of the developed DDS was coated with polydopamine (PDA) to which aptamer was conjugated so that the DDS can be targeted by both external magnet and aptamer. The final size of the aptamer decorated DDS was 185.2 ± 3 nm. Upon NIR (near-infrared) laser irradiation, the DDS can raise the suspension's temperature over 50 °C within 10 min. Accelerated drug release was achieved in acidic conditions (pH 5.5) in the presence of laser irradiation due to both pH sensitivity and photothermal effect. Efficient dual targeting along with laser irradiation could reduce in vitro viability of MDA-MB-231 cells to 9.1 ± 2.3% resulting in a synergistic effect, whereas the same group could inhibit 90.6 ± 2.7% tumor growth showing the best therapeutic effect in a mouse model. The obtained results suggest that the developed DDS is an effective tool to treat various cancers by combination therapy.