Designing pH-Dependent Systems Based on Nanoscale Calcium Carbonate for the Delivery of an Antitumor Drug

Materials based on calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) are widely used in biomedical research (e.g., as carriers of bioactive substances). The biocompatibility of CaCO₃ and dependence of its stability on pH make these materials promising transporters of therapeutic agents to sites with low pH such as a tumor tissue. In this work, we developed an approach to the preparation of nanoscale particles based on CaCO₃ (CaNPs) up to 200 nm in size by coprecipitation and analyzed the interaction of the nanoparticles with an anticancer drug: DOXorubicin (DOX). We also showed a prolonged pH-dependent release of DOX from a CaNP nanocarrier and effective inhibition of cancer cell growth by a CaCO₃-and-DOX-based composite (CaNP₇-DOX) in in vitro models.