Flexible assembly of targeting agents on porous magnetic nano-cargos by inclusion complexation for accurate drug delivery

Efficient delivery of anticancer drugs to increase the intracellular drug concentration in targeted tissues is urgently needed in cancer chemotherapy, since clinical drugs usually have serious side effects on normal tissues. In this paper, we developed a new method to fabricate multi-functional porous magnetic nano-cargos by grafting PEG/folate onto the surface and storing doxorubicin in the pores of magnetic supraparticles for accurate delivery of anticancer drugs. The anticancer drug doxorubicin was fixed into the porous magnetic cores with acid-sensitive linkers, which can be broken in acidic intracellular environments or organelles; the superficial PEG chains on the magnetic cores not only enhanced the dispersion stability of the nano-cargos but also immobilized folate modified α-cyclodextrin by inclusion complexation, and the α-cyclodextrin derivatives could be flexibly replaced as needed. Remarkable proliferation inhibition of cancer cells and minor side effects on normal cells were achieved due to the controlled drug release manner of the nano-drug system, indicating that this kind of nano-cargo has great potential in cancer chemotherapy for personalized and accurate treatment.