Combination therapeutics of doxorubicin with Fe3O4@chitosan@phytic acid nanoparticles for multi-responsive drug delivery

Abstract

Functional multi-responsive drug delivery vehicles have drawn considerable attention owing to their merits of low toxicity and improved antitumor efficiency. In this article, novel Fe₃O₄@chitosan@phytic acid (FCP) magnetic pH-sensitive nanoscaled microspheres with narrow size distribution and high drug loading efficiency for doxorubicin (DOX) of up to 94.2% have been successfully prepared in a facile one-step hydrothermal method utilized in controlled drug releasing and combination therapy. The constructed nanocarriers exhibited high saturation of 24.83 emu g⁻¹, excellent pH-response in weak acidic regions like tumor tissues while drug releasing and obvious anticancer efficiency, which was verified by MTT test in the MG-63 cancer cell line in vitro, leading to notable inhibition of tumor growth without negative consequences. Therefore, the as-prepared FCP nanoparticles show promising potential as drug carriers to improve antitumor therapeutic efficacy.