Polymer-nucleobase composites for chemotherapy drug capture

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Intravenous chemotherapy, such as doxorubicin (DOX), is a cornerstone of cancer treatment.
• Off-target toxicity of chemotherapy agents leads to significant side effects.
• Existing drug-capture materials face challenges including cost, specificity, batch variation, and immunogenicity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a new class of fully synthetic, cost-effective, and potentially less immunogenic drug-capture materials.
• To investigate the efficacy of nucleobase-integrated resins for sequestering small-molecule chemotherapy drugs.

Main Methods:

• Copolymerization of methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate in the presence of nucleobases (adenine, cytosine, xanthine, thymine).
• Creation of a crosslinked resin with integrated nucleobases.
• Assessment of doxorubicin (DOX) capture capacity and kinetics from a buffered solution.

Main Results:

• The synthesized materials effectively captured doxorubicin (DOX), achieving up to 27 mg of DOX per gram of material within 20 minutes.
• Capture efficacy was demonstrated from a phosphate-buffered saline solution with an initial DOX concentration of 0.05 mg mL⁻¹.
• The materials utilized individual nucleobases for drug capture, showing competitive efficacy compared to genomic DNA-based methods.

Conclusions:

• A novel class of fully synthetic drug-capture materials based on integrated nucleobases has been successfully developed.
• These materials offer a cost-effective and potentially less immunogenic alternative for sequestering chemotherapy drugs.
• The findings present a promising advancement in mitigating off-target chemotherapy toxicity.