A magnetic polypeptide nanocomposite with pH and near-infrared dual responsiveness for cancer therapy

Zhang, J (Zhang, Jie)^[ 1 ] ; Gong, C (Gong, Chu)^[ 1 ] ; Li, BQ (Li, Bingqiang)^[ 1 ] ; Shan, M (Shan, Meng)^[ 1 ] ; Wu, GL (Wu, Guolin)^[ 1 ]

JOURNAL OF POLYMER RESEARCH, 2017, 24(8): 文献号: 122

DOI: 10.1007/s10965-017-1277-5

 WOS:000405836200001

Abstract

A magnetic polypeptide nanocomposite with pH and near-infrared (NIR) dual responsiveness was developed as a drug carrier for cancer therapy, which was prepared through the self-assembly of Fe3O4 superparamagnetic nanoparticles, poly(aspartic acid) derivative (mPEG-g-PDAEAIM) and doxorubicin (DOX) in water. Fe3O4 nanoparticles were prepared to provide the superparamagnetic core of nanocomposites for tumor targeting via chemical co-precipitation. The protonable imidazole groups of mPEG-g-PDAEAIM with a pKa of similar to 7 were accountable for the pH-responsiveness of nanocomposites. The photothermal effect of nanocomposites under the irradiation of NIR laser was induced via the interactions between dopamine groups of mPEG-g-PDAEAIM and Fe3O4 superparamagnetic nanoparticles to trigger the drug release. NMR, FT-IR, TEM, hysteresis loop analysis and MRI were utilized to characterize the materials. The DOX loaded nanocomposites exhibited pH-responsive and NIR dependent on/off switchable release profiles. The nanocomposites without drug loading (Fe3O4@mPEG-g-PDAEAIM) showed excellent biocompatibility while DOX loaded nanocomposites caused MCF-7 cells' apoptosis due to the photothermal/chemotherapy combination effects. Overall, the pH and near-infrared dual responsive magnetic nanocomposite had a great potential for cancer therapy.