Hui Li,Jian Tian,Anqing Wu,Jiamin Wang,Cuicui Ge,Ziling Sun
Self-assembled nanoparticles of the natural polymer, silk fibroin (SF), are a very promising candidate in drug delivery due to their biocompatible and biodegradable properties. In this study, SF nanoparticles loaded with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and curcumin with size 217±0.4 nm and with a loading efficacy of 45% and 15% for 5-FU and curcumin, respectively, were prepared. The in vitro release effect of 5-FU and curcumin from nanoparticles was evaluated as ~100% and ~5%, respectively. It has been revealed that the application of such a nanodrug can increase the level of reactive oxygen species, which in turn induces apoptosis of cancer cells in vitro. Animal studies have shown that tumors could be noticeably reduced after being injected with the drug-entrapped nanoparticles. More apoptotic cells were found after 7 days of treatment with SF nanoparticles by a hematoxylin–eosin staining assay. These results demonstrate the future potential of nanoparticle-loaded binary drugs in the treatment of breast cancer.
It's currently a challenge to design a drug delivery system for chemotherapy with high drug contents and minimal side effects. Herein, we constructed a novel one-dimensional binary-drug delivery system for cancer treatment. In this drug delivery system, drugs (doxorubicin (DOX) and resveratrol (RES)) self-assemble on bacterial cellulose nano-whiskers (BCW) and are subsequently encapsulated by polydopamine (PDA) with high encapsulation efficiencies (DOX: 81.53 %, RES: 70.32 %) and high drug loading efficiencies (DOX: 51.54 %, RES: 36.93 %). The cumulative release efficiencies can reach 89.27 % for DOX and 80.05 % for RES in acidic medium within 96 h. The BCW/(DOX + RES)/PDA can enter tumor cells easily through endocytosis and presents significant anti-cancer effects. Furthermore, the released-RES plays a protective role in normal cells through up-regulation of antioxidant enzymes activities and scavenging of reactive oxygen species. Taken together, the one-dimensional BCW/(DOX + RES)/PDA binary-drug delivery system can be used for the anticancer treatment along with slight side effects.