Poly-β-Cyclodextrin-coated neodymium-containing copper sulfide nanoparticles as an effective anticancer drug carrier

Dysprosium-containing Cobalt Sulfide Nanoparticles as Anticancer Drug Carriers

BACKGROUND

Among various materials designed for anticancer drug transport, sulfide nanoparticles are uniquely intriguing owing to their spectral characteristics. Exploration of newer nanoscale copper sulfide particles with dysprosium doping is reported herein. It leads to a change in the physicochemical properties of the sulfide nanoparticles and hence the difference in drug release and cytotoxicity.

OBJECTIVE

We intend to purport the suitably engineered cobalt sulfide and dysprosium-doped cobalt sulfide nanoparticles that are magnetic and NIR-absorbing, as drug delivery vehicles. The drug loading and release are based on the supramolecular drug complex formation on the surface of the nanoparticles.

METHOD

The nanomaterials are synthesized employing hydrothermal procedures, coated with a biocompatible poly-β-cyclodextrin, and characterized using the methods of diffractometry, microscopy, spectroscopy, thermogravimetry and magnetometry. The sustained drug release is investigated in vitro. 5-Fluorouracil is loaded in the nanocarriers. The empty and 5-fluorouracil-loaded nanocarriers are screened for their anti-breast cancer activity in vitro on MCF-7 cells.

RESULTS

The size of the nanoparticles is below 10 nm. They show soft ferromagnetic characteristics. Further, they show broad NIR absorption bands extending up to 1200 nm, with the dysprosium-doped material displaying greater absorbance. The drug 5-fluorouracil is encapsulated in the nanocarriers and released sustainably, with the expulsion duration extending over 10 days. The IC50 of the blank and the drug-loaded cobalt sulfide are 16.24 ± 3.6 and 12.2 ± 2.6 μg mL-1, respectively. For the drug-loaded, dysprosium-doped nanocarrier, the IC50 value is 9.7 ± 0.3 μg mL-1.

CONCLUSION

The ultrasmall nanoparticles possess a size suitable for drug delivery and are dispersed well in the aqueous medium. The release of the loaded 5-fluorouracil is slow and sustained. The anticancer activity of the drug-loaded nanocarrier shows an increase in efficacy, and the cytotoxicity is appreciable due to the controlled release. The nanocarriers show multi-functional characteristics, i.e., magnetic and NIR-absorbing, and are promising drug delivery agents.

PpIX/IR-820 Dual-Modal Therapeutic Agents for Enhanced PDT/PTT Synergistic Therapy in Cervical Cancer

High treatment accuracy is the key to efficient cancer treatment. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) are two kinds of popular, precise treatment methods. The combination of photodynamic and photothermal therapy (PDT/PTT) can greatly enhance the precise therapeutic efficacy. In this work, protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) was selected as the PDT agent (photosensitizer), and new indocyanine green (IR-820) was selected as the PTT agent. Further, the two kinds of theranostic agents were encapsulated by biological-membrane-compatible liposomes to form PpIX-IR-820@Lipo nanoparticles (NPs), a new kind of PDT/PTT agent. The PpIX-IR-820@Lipo NPs exhibited good water solubility, a spherical shape, and high fluorescence peak emission in the near-infrared spectral region (700-900 nm, NIR). The cellular toxicity of PpIX-IR-820@Lipo NPs for human cervical cancer cells (HeLa) and human cervical epithelial cells (H8) was detected by the CCK-8 method, and low cytotoxicity was observed for the PpIX-IR-820@Lipo NPs. Then, the excellent cellular uptake of PpIX-IR-820@Lipo NPs was confirmed by laser scanning confocal microscopy. Moreover, the PDT/PTT property of PpIX-IR-820@Lipo NPs was illustrated via 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) and annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate (annexin V-FITC), as indicator probes. The PDT/PTT synergistic efficiency of PpIX-IR-820@Lipo NPs on HeLa cells was verified, exhibiting a high efficiency of 70.5%. Thus, the novel theranostic PpIX-IR-820@Lipo NPs can be used as a promising PDT/PTT synergistic theranostic nanoplatform in future cervical cancer treatment.