DNA–affibody nanoparticle delivery system for cisplatin-based breast cancer chemotherapy

Cisplatin is the most widely used anticancer drug, but its side effects limit the maximum systemic dose. To circumvent the side effects, a DNA tetrahedron–affibody nanoparticle was prepared by combination of a DNA chain with cisplatin via interstrand crosslinks or adducts. Each nanocarrier can bind ∼68 molecules of cisplatin. This cisplatin nanoparticle exhibited high selectivity and inhibition for breast cancer HER2 overexpressing cells BT474 and lower toxicity in MCF-7 cells with low HER2 expression. The nano-drug inhibited the growth of BT474 cells by 94.57% at 512 nM (containing 33.3 μM cisplatin), which was higher than that of cisplatin (82.9%, 33.3 μM).