Design of Extended Bisphosphonate-Based Coordination Polymers as Bone-Targeted Drug Delivery Systems for Breast...

The coordination between benzene 1,4-bis(bisphosphonic acid) (BBPA), the bisphosphonate (BP) analogue of benzene 1,4-dicarboxylic acid (BDC), and bioactive metals led to the formation of extended bisphosphonate-based coordination polymers (BPCPs). Four distinct crystalline phases were obtained, namely, BBPA-Ca forms I and II, BBPA-Zn, and BBPA-Mg. Among these, BBPA-Ca forms I (7 × 9 Å2) and II (8 × 12 Å2) possess channels large enough to encapsulate 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), a drug prescribed in combination with BPs to treat breast cancer-induced osteolytic metastases (OM). Dissolution curves show a 14% release of BBPA from BBPA-Ca form II in phosphate-buffered saline, while ∼90% was released in fasted-state simulated gastric fluid. These results suggest that this material is relatively stable in neutral environments yet collapses in acidic conditions. Moreover, the phase inversion temperature method decreased the particle size of BBPA-Ca form II, resulting in nano-Ca@BBPA (∼134 d.nm). Binding assays showed a higher affinity of nano-Ca@BBPA (∼97%) to hydroxyapatite than BBPA (∼70%) and significantly higher binding than commercial BPs, zolendronic (3.0×), and risedronic (2.4×) acids after 24 h. Furthermore, both BBPA-Ca form II and nano-Ca@BBPA presented comparable drug loading and release (∼30 wt % 5-FU) relative to BDC-based CCs (UiO-66, MIL-53, and BDC-Zr) where other pharmaceutical compounds (caffeine, ibuprofen, aspirin, and α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid) have been encapsulated. Cell viability assays established that drug-loaded nano-Ca@BBPA increases the cytotoxicity of a triple-negative human breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) when compared to 5-FU (%RCV = 8 ± 5 vs 75 ± 1% at a 100 μM). At the same concentration, no significant decrease in cell viability was observed for normal human osteoblast-like hFOB 1.19 cells (%RCV = 85 ± 1%). Collectively, these results demonstrate the feasibility of nano-Ca@BBPA as a potential drug delivery system (DDS), with high affinity to bone tissue, to treat bone-related diseases such as OM.