Development of Photo-Activated ROS-Responsive Nanoplatform as a Dual-Functional Drug Carrier in Combinational...

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology in Cancer Therapy
• Drug Delivery Systems
• Photodynamic Therapy

Background:

• Dual functional drug carriers enhance cancer therapy through additive and synergistic effects via combination therapy.
• Photo-activated stimuli like reactive oxygen species (ROS) enable precise temporal and spatial drug delivery.
• Existing ROS-responsive drug delivery systems often involve complex synthetic procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a facile one-pot approach for self-assembled polymeric nanocarriers (NCs) for simultaneous paclitaxel (PTX) and Rose Bengal (RB) loading.
• To achieve combined chemo-photodynamic therapy and controlled drug release in response to a light-induced ROS stimulus.
• To create HA-BSA/CTS/PVA/bPEI-blended nanocarriers (HBNCs) for efficient prostate cancer cell uptake and light-triggered drug release.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of nanoblended matrices using chitosan (CTS), branched polyethylenimine (bPEI), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) via an oil-in-water emulsion method.
• One-step assembly process incorporating bovine serum albumin (BSA) to stabilize nanocarriers (BNCs).
• Surface modification of BNCs with hyaluronic acid (HA) via electrostatic interaction to form HBNCs.

Main Results:

• Simultaneous encapsulation of hydrophobic PTX and hydrophilic RB achieved, with RB encapsulation efficiency improved by increasing bPEI.
• Light irradiation destabilized HBNCs via RB-mediated photodynamic action, enabling on-demand dual-payload release.
• The developed HBNCs demonstrated specific vulnerability to RB-induced photosensitization, leading to dual-cargo release for synergistic anti-tumor effects.

Conclusions:

• A facile one-pot method successfully produced dual-drug loaded nanocarriers (HBNCs) for combined chemo-photodynamic therapy.
• HBNCs exhibit light-triggered, on-demand release of PTX and RB, enabling precise cancer treatment.
• This approach offers a promising strategy for synergistic anti-tumor effects and overcoming limitations of current ROS-responsive systems.