Multifunctional Graphene Oxide Nanodelivery Platform for Breast Cancer Treatment

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Oncology

Background:

• Breast cancer (BC) is a prevalent global malignancy.
• Paclitaxel (PTX) is an effective BC treatment but faces clinical limitations due to poor solubility and allergenicity.
• There is a need for improved drug delivery systems for enhanced BC therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a multifunctional, tumor-targeting drug delivery system for paclitaxel (PTX).
• To enhance the clinical application of PTX for breast cancer (BC) treatment.
• To investigate the efficacy of a novel graphene oxide (GO)-based nanocarrier.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a nanosized graphene oxide (nGO) system modified with D-tocopherol polyethylene glycol succinate (TPGS) and arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) for PTX loading, termed RGD-TPGS-nGO-PTX.
• Characterization of the RGD-TPGS-nGO-PTX system, including size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential, and drug loading capacity.
• Evaluation of biocompatibility, biosafety, cytotoxicity against cancer cells, multi-drug resistance (MDR) reversal, and in vivo anti-tumor efficacy in tumor-bearing nude mice.

Main Results:

• The RGD-TPGS-nGO-PTX system exhibited a size of 310.20±19.86 nm with a PDI of 0.21±0.020 and zeta potential of -23.42 mV.
• The mean drug loading capacity was 48.78%, with satisfactory biocompatibility and biosafety demonstrated in zebrafish embryos.
• Significant cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 cells, reversal of MDR in MCF-7/ADR cells, and notable anti-tumor efficacy in vivo were observed.

Conclusions:

• The multifunctional RGD-TPGS-nGO-PTX system shows promise for improving PTX delivery in breast cancer (BC) treatment.
• This nanodelivery system effectively reverses multi-drug resistance (MDR) and enhances therapeutic efficacy.
• The findings suggest potential clinical applications for this advanced GO-based drug delivery system in BC therapy.