Construction of magnetic drug delivery system and its potential application in tumor theranostics

Magnetic nanoparticles(NPs) are characterized by a rich variety of properties. Because of their excellent physical and chemical properties, they have come to the fore in biomedicine and other fields. The magnetic NPs were extensively studied in magnetic separation of cells, targeted drug delivery, tumor hyperthermia, chemo-photothermal therapy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other biomedical fields. Magnetic NPs are increasingly used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based on their inherent magnetic targeting, superparamagnetic enzyme-like catalytic properties and nanoscale size. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is a promising biodegradable material approved by FDA and EU for drug delivery. Currently, PLGA-based magnetic nano-drug delivery systems have attracted the attention of researchers. Herein, we achieved the effective encapsulation of sized-controlled polyethylene glycol-3,4-dihydroxy benzyl-amine-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO NPs) and euphorbiasteroid into PLGA nanospheres via a modified multiple emulsion solvent evaporation method (W₁/O₂/W₂). NPs with narrow size distribution and acceptable magnetic properties were developed that are very useful for applications involving cancer therapy and MRI. Furthermore, SPIO-PLGA NPs enhanced the MRI T₂ relaxation properties of tumor sites.The prepared SPIO NPs and magnetic PLGA nanospheres can be promising magnetic drug delivery systems for tumor theranostics. This study has successfully constructed a tumor-targeting and magnetic-targeting smart nanocarrier with enhanced permeability and retention, multimodal anti-cancer therapeutics and biodegradability, which could be a hopeful candidate for anti-tumor therapy in the future.