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Updated: Jul 21, 2026

Manufacture and Drug Delivery Applications of Silk Nanoparticles
Published on: October 8, 2016
Rational design of pH-responsive nano-delivery system with improved biocompatibility and targeting ability from
Ziqi Li1, Xi Wang2, Weimin Wan2
1National Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Modernization, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, PR China; Haihe Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, PR China; Department of Pharmacy, Jiangxi Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Jiangxi 330103, PR China.
Abstract:
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), derived from diverse sources and distinguished by their inherent biodegradability, excellent biocompatibility, and facile cellular engulfment due to their rod-like structure, hold great promise as carriers for the development of nano-delivery systems. In this work, highly efficient rod-like CNCs were employed as substrates for grafting glycidyl onto their surfaces through ring-opening polymerization, forming hyperbranched polymers with superior cell uptake properties. Subsequently, 4-vinylbenzeneboronic acid (VB) and poly (ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA) were employed as monomers in the polymerization process to fabricate a pH-responsive targeted nano-delivery system, denoted as CNCs-VB-PEGMA, via single electron transfer reactive radical polymerization (SET-LRP) reaction. The CNCs-VB-PEGMA was successfully prepared and used for the loading of curcumin (Cur) to form a pH-responsive nano-delivery system (CNCs-VB-PEGMA-Cur), and the loading rate of Cur was as high as 70.0 %. Studies showed that this drug delivery system could actively targeting liver cancer cells with the 2D cells model and 3D tumor microsphere model, showing efficient liver cancer cell-killing ability. Collectively, the CNCs-VB-PEGMA drug delivery system has potential applications in liver cancer therapy as an actively targeting and pH-responsive drug delivery system.
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