Multidrug resistance evoked by overusing pharmaceuticals of poor water solubility has posed a serious threat to public health, which urges the development of safe and efficacious therapeutic formulations. In this study, biomimetic nanospherical polydopamine (PDA) formed under mild conditions was modified using methoxypolyethylene glycol amine (m-PEG-NH2) to produce a polydopamine-based drug delivery platform. As characterized by various physicochemical methods, the PEGylated PDA with a uniform size distribution showed superior biocompatibility and efficient load capability for two hydrophobic anticancer drugs of paclitaxel and phytochemical curcumin, which exhibited synergistic cytotoxicity and a pH/ROS-responsive release behavior. Significantly, an enhanced effect of the encapsulated paclitaxel and curcumin was identified toward the drug-resistant A549/TAX cancer cells, which was correlated with the improved cellular internalization of hyperbranched PDA composites and distinctive cell cycle arrest of loaded drugs. The dual-drug-loaded spherical PDA nanocomposites hold enormous potential to tackle drug resistance from a chemotherapy perspective.
Yurong Leng,Yanmei Wu,Wenjing Xiao,Xiaoquan Su,Zhe Liu
Nanomedicine provides promising new methodologies for the treatment of tumors but still faces several limitations, including poor colloidal stability, uncontrollable drug release, and insufficient drug targeting. Herein, hyaluronic acid (HA) was used to modify the surface of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) via a dynamic-covalent linker, phenylborate ester (PBAE), termed MA. The HA modifier provided enhanced colloidal stability to the hybrid nanoparticles. As expected, MA exhibited an improved biocompatibility and high potential for biomedical applications. Moreover, MA with a negatively charged surface effectively adsorbed the drug Doxorubicin (DOX) inside the carriers, ensuring minimal drug leakage. In an acidic and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-containing condition mimicking the tumor microenvironment, MA@DOX (MAD) continuously released its payloads, likely due to the cleavage of the pH/ROS-sensitive PBAE. Compared with free DOX, MAD had 2.2 times higher accessibility to tumor cells than free DOX. The favorable stability and cancer-selective drug release make this nanoformulation a promising platform for potent cancer treatment.