Dually responsive nanogels as smart carriers for improving the therapeutic index of doxorubicin for breast cancer

CUGGINO, JULIO CÉSAR; GATTI, GERARDO; PICCHIO, MATÍAS LUIS; MACCIONI, MARIANA; GUGLIOTTA, LUIS MARCELINO; ALVAREZ IGARZABAL, CECILIA INÉS

EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2019 vol. 116 p. 445 - 445

0014-3057

anocarriers can significantly improve the therapeutic index of drug in cancer therapy. At present, parenteral administration of free doxorubicin (Dox) to treat breast tumor produces severe side effects including cardiotoxicity. This work reports the preparation of N-isopropyacrylamide/acrylic acid nanogels (NGs), NIPA/AAc NGs, crosslinked by a disulfide-bearing monomer, which can be used as smart carriers of Dox for cancer therapy. The NGs prepared showed high load percentage of Dox through ionic interaction. The size of the NGs in simulated physiological medium was ideal to be applied as a carrier in cancer therapy. In vitro release studies demonstrated that the designed drug delivery system (DDS) can active the release of a large amount of drug in simulated intracellular medium in response to redox potential and pH, but with minimal release in simulated plasma conditions. Cellular uptake studies showed that NGs loaded with Dox can be internalized in human breast cancer cell line MDA