Nanoscale poly(4-hydroxybutyrate)-mPEG carriers for anticancer drugs delivery

Despite several advancements in chemotherapy, cancer is still the second most frequent cause of mortality worldwide. Drug delivery to solid tumors is one of the most challenging aspects in cancer therapy. In pharmaceutical industries biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles as drug carriers have attracted great research interest because of their biocompatibility, biodegradability and sustained release of drugs. In our study we prepared poly(4-hydroxybutyrate)-mPEG (P(4HB)-mPEG) nanocarriers for the delivery of cisplatin as anticancer drug to mouse hippocampal HT22 cells. P(4HB) is more suitable candidate to be utilized in pharmaceutical industries due to its wide medical applications. P(4HB) is a homopolymer of 4-hydroxybutyrate (4HB), and belongs to a diverse class of materials called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) produced by microorganisms inside the cells as energy storage materials. P(4HB) has certain unique properties such as biocompatibility and rapid in vivo degradation, which differentiate it from others PHA based polymers. Novel amorphous amphiphilic block copolymer P(4HB)-mPEG nanocarriers were prepared and characterized. Flow cytometry, and confocal microscopy revealed a suppression effect by the cisplatin loaded nanocarriers on HT22 cell growth, and enhancement of apoptotic process of the cells compared to free drug treated cells. The amorphous polymeric nanocarriers could be effective vehicles for the sustained delivery of toxic anticancer drugs for the therapy of cancer.