Folic acid-conjugated TiO2-doped mesoporous carbonaceous nanocomposites loaded with Mitoxantrone HCl for chemo-photodynamic therapy

Recently, porous carbons have showed great potential in many areas. In this study, TiO 2 -doped mesoporous carbonaceous (TiO 2 @C) nanoparticles were obtained by a simple one-pot hydrothermal treatment, folic acid (FA) was conjugated to TiO 2 @C through an amide bond, then Mitoxantrone HCl (MTX) was adsorbed onto TiO 2 @C-FA and a drug delivery system, TiO 2 @C-FA/MTX was obtained. TiO 2 @C-FA/MTX showed a much faster MTX release at pH 4.5 than at pH 6.0 and pH 7.4. Furthermore, compared with free MTX, this drug delivery system showed a dose-dependent cytotoxicity by varying the irradiance, and afforded higher antitumor efficacy in cultured PC3 cells in vitro . The ability of TiO 2 @C-FA/MTX to combine chemotherapy with photodynamic activity enhanced the cancer cell killing effect in vitro , demonstrating that TiO 2 @C-FA/MTX has a great potential for cancer therapy in the future.