In vitro comparative study of multimodal imaging nano-assembled microspheres with two clinical drug-eluting beads loaded with doxorubicin

Abstract

DC Beads and CalliSpheres are commonly used microspheres in clinical transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, but these microspheres cannot be visualized by themselves. Therefore, in our previous study, we developed multimodal imaging nano-assembled microspheres (NAMs), which are visualized under CT/MR and the location of embolic microspheres can be determined during postoperative review, facilitating the evaluation of embolic areas and guiding subsequent treatment. Moreover, the NAMs can be carried with positively and negatively charged drugs, increasing the choice of drugs. Systematic comparative analysis of the pharmacokinetics of NAMs with commercially available DC Bead and CalliSpheres microspheres is important for evaluating the clinical application of NAMs. In our study, we compared the similarities and differences between NAMs and two drug-eluting beads (DEBs) in respect to drug loading capacity, drug release profiles, diameter variation and morphological characteristics. The results indicate that NAMs had good drug delivery and release characteristics as well as DC Bead and CalliSpheres in vitro experimental stage. Therefore, NAMs have a good application prospect in transcatheter arterial chemoembolization treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Keywords:

• Comparative study
• drug-eluting beads
• drug loading
• drug release
• doxorubicin

Acknowledgment

The authors thank the laboratory of Hangzhou Dianzi University for providing the experimental equipment and the laboratory staff of Zhejiang Cancer Hospital for their help during the measurements.

Author contributions

Y.Z. and G.S. designed, supervised the experiments. Y.Z., G.S and H.Z. provided fundings. Y.H., T.X., T.D., Y.G., Z.X., Y.Y., Z.S., T.P., Z.Z., L.L. and Q.M. conducted the experiments and analyzed the experimental data. YH wrote the original draft. YZ proofreading the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work. 

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval Statement

Not applicable.

Data availability Statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 82072032 and 61905057), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LY21A040002) and Medical Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Province (2021427572).