DEVELOPMENT OF GOLD NANORODS STABILIZED WITH DRUG-CONJUGATED POLYMER

Abstract

Taking advantages of gold nanorod (AuNRs) being capable of providing synergistic efficiency for cancer treatment via the combination of photothermal therapy and chemotherapy and their tunable properties as a function of stabilizer, this work aims to develop anticancer drug delivery system based on AuNRs stabilized with poly[(methacrylic acid)-ran-(methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine)] (PMAMPC). Doxorubicin (DOX), an anticancer drug was conjugated to PMAMPC by acid-labile hydrazone linkage which should be rapidly destroyed under acidic environment in lysosomes. The DOX-conjugated PMAMPC (PMAMPC-DOX) was coated on AuNRs surface via Au-S bonds. The resulting PMAMPC-DOX-AuNRs showed good colloidal stability and uniform size. In vitro drug release studies demonstrated that DOX release can be significantly accelerated at pH 5.0. The efficient intracellular acid-triggered DOX release inside of cancer cells was confirmed using confocal laser scanning microscopy analysis. Furthermore, the combined photothermal-chemo treatment of cancer cells using PMAMPC-DOX-AuNR exhibited higher therapeutic efficacy than either single treatment alone. These results suggested that PMAMPC-DOX-AuNRs could potentially be applied in pH-triggered drug delivery for synergistic cancer therapy.