High-Affinity DNA Nanomatrix: A Platform Technology for Synergistic Drug Delivery and Photothermal Therapy
Akshit Prajapati, Aditya Srivastava, Sri Amruthaa Sankaranarayanan, Monika Pebam, Hima Sree Buddhiraju, Paloma Patra, Priyanka Yadav, Himanshu Joshi, Aravind Kumar Rengan
Abstract
With the advent of nucleosome/nucleotide intercalating drugs, DNA-based nanocarriers have recently gained impetus. However, most of the newly proposed DNA nanosystems are rather complex, thereby having low scalability and translatability. In this study, we propose a simple DNA nanomatrix core encapsulated within a chitosan shell, which is expected to enhance the encapsulation efficiency of intercalating drugs. This has been demonstrated using proflavine hemisulfate (PfHS), a model intercalating agent that shows improved ROS generation, among other anticancerous properties. The release of the drug from the nanomatrix is triggered by providing a heat trigger using IR-792 perchlorate, a known NIR photothermal sensitizer.