Sericin/Dextran Injectable Hydrogel as an Optically Trackable Drug Delivery System for Malignant Melanoma Treatment

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Drug Delivery Systems
• Cancer Therapy

Background:

• Cancer chemotherapy often causes severe side effects, necessitating improved drug delivery systems.
• Injectable hydrogels offer site-specific delivery, but in vivo monitoring of drug release and degradation remains a challenge.
• Current imaging methods using fluorescent dyes can be cytotoxic, limiting their application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an injectable hydrogel with built-in, non-invasive, real-time in vivo trackability for cancer therapy.
• To create a biodegradable and biocompatible hydrogel system for efficient drug loading and controlled release.
• To utilize the natural photoluminescence of sericin for monitoring hydrogel degradation and drug release.

Main Methods:

• Synthesized a hydrazone cross-linked sericin/dextran injectable hydrogel.
• Evaluated hydrogel's biodegradability, biocompatibility, drug loading, and controlled release capabilities.
• Investigated sericin's photoluminescence for in vivo imaging and correlation with hydrogel degradation and drug content.

Main Results:

• The sericin/dextran hydrogel demonstrated efficient loading and controlled release of both small and large molecule drugs.
• Sericin's photoluminescence was directly and stably correlated with hydrogel degradation, enabling long-term in vivo imaging.
• Doxorubicin-loaded hydrogel significantly suppressed tumor growth in vivo.
• The developed system allows real-time monitoring of remaining drug concentration.

Conclusions:

• The sericin-based injectable hydrogel is a promising drug delivery system for cancer therapy.
• The integrated optical monitoring strategy using sericin's photoluminescence enhances the safety and efficacy of chemotherapy.
• This approach offers a potential strategy for improving hydrogel design and applicability in drug delivery systems.