Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: To date, numerous inorganic nanocarriers have been explored for drug delivery systems (DDSs). However, the clinical application of inorganic formulations has often been hindered by their toxicity and failure to biodegrade. We describe here a transformable liquid-metal nanomedicine, based on a core-shell nanosphere composed of a liquid-phase eutectic gallium-indium core and a thiolated polymeric shell. This formulation can be simply produced through a sonication-mediated method with bioconjugation flexibility. The resulting nanoparticles loaded with doxorubicin (Dox) have an average diameter of 107 nm and demonstrate the capability to fuse and subsequently degrade under a mildly acidic condition, which facilitates release of Dox in acidic endosomes after cellular internalization. Equipped with hyaluronic acid, a tumour-targeting ligand, this formulation displays enhanced chemotherapeutic inhibition towards the xenograft tumour-bearing mice. This liquid metal-based DDS with fusible and degradable behaviour under physiological conditions provides a new strategy for engineering theranostic agents with low toxicity.
Source: Nature Communications
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10066
Language: English
Subfield: Biomaterials
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
Funders: National Science Foundation, North Carolina State University, Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance, National Institutes of Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Harvard University, Division of Materials Research, Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Awards: G1090138688, Triangle Center for Excellence for Materials Research and Innovation: Programmable Assembly of Soft Matter, G2199178042, G2734091664, G3376375935, G3384226017, G3387330441, CAREER: Understanding and Controlling the Surface Properties of a Micromoldable Liquid Metal, G37756661, North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS), G5573525031, G6671297155, G7164875514, G7178678552, G85740837
OpenAlex ID: W2191460975