Bioengineered DNA-decorated UiO-66-based nanocarriers for combined administration of doxorubicin and sorafenib: Hepatocellular carcinoma treatment and chemotherapy

Abstract

Natural biomaterials were used to decorate UiO-66-NH2 to develop a platform for co-drug delivery of doxorubicin and sorafenib as a cost-effective and easy way to use a drug delivery system (DDS). To properly characterize the modified MOFs, standard analytical methods were used. Then doxorubicin and sorafenib were loaded into and onto the porosity of the MOF, UiO-66-NH2. The surface morphological analysis, FESEM, and TEM images revealed the hexagonal structure of the UiO-66-NH2, demonstrating the successful synthesis of these green MOFs. Internalization and loading of doxorubicin on the MCF-7 cell line was investigated with two-dimensional fluorescence microscopy, which shows that drug internalizations on the cancerous cells were successful and promising. The drug payload of 49.5% and 31.2% for doxorubicin and sorafenib were attained, respectively. Study on the MCF-7 HT-29 and HEK-293 cell lines exhibited excellent cell viability when subjected to both low and high concentrations of 0.1 µg.mL−1 and 50 µg.mL−1, respectively. After 24 h of treatment, the relative cell viability of 85.1%, 88.1%, and 76.8% was achieved for the HT-29, HEK-293, and MCF-7 cell lines, respectively. In addition, after 48 h of treatment, the relative cell viability of 82.5%, 83.5%, and 68.5% was recorded, respectively. However, the percentage of cell viability was dramatically reduced by coating the nanocarrier with Ginkgo biloba leaf extract and E. Coli DNA (62.6%, 40.9%, and 45.1% for 24 h treatment and 62.1%, 38.5%, and 38.9% for 48 h treatment in HEK-293, HT-29, and MCF-7 cell lines, respectively).