Abstract
Tumour drug delivery using nanocarriers is attracting ample attentions due to their high drug-loading capacity. Regarding specific tumour microenvironment properties as acidic pH, smart nanocarriers with the ability of responding to the microenvironment, can have a profound effect on the level of drug release and subsequent tumour treatment. In this study, by combining the advantages of multiwall carbon nanotube and pH-sensitive nanogels, multifunctional magneto/pH-responsive nano-hybrid system is developed to deliver the doxorubicin as a general cancer chemotherapeutic drug. The chemical and physical properties of the nanocarrier, as well as drug-loading efficiency and drug releasing characteristics were analysed. It was showed functionalized CNT has low pH-responsiveness in acidic environment, whereas chitosan-coated magnetic nanocomposite can result in greater pH-responsiveness and subsequently higher drug release over a week compared to nanocomposite system without chitosan. This behaviour was proved in Live/Dead assay of the U-87 glioblastoma cell lines exposed to DOX release supernatant at different time intervals so that significant effect of DOX supernatant on cancer cell proliferation suppression was showed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.