PH-Responsive Polycarbonate Copolymer-based Nanoparticles for Targeted Anticancer Drug Delivery

Abstract

A smart polycarbonate(PCA) copolymer-based nanoparticle(NanoPCA) with pH-responsive, long-term stability, and tumor targeting ability was successfully developed by synthesizing and assembling a series of functional PCA-based copolymers including poly(2-amino-1,3-propanediol carbonate-co-L-lactide)[P(CA-co-LA)], poly(2-amino-1,3-propanediol carbonate-co-L-lactide)-g-methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)[P(CA-co-LA)-g-MPEG], and poly(2-amino-1,3-propanediol carbonate-co-L-lactide)-g-poly(ethylene glycol)-cyclic(Arg-Gly-Asp-D-Phe-Lys) [P(CA-co-LA)-g-PEG-cRGD] for targeted anticancer drug delivery. pH-Responsive studies demonstrated that the loading doxorubicin(DOX) released faster from NanoPCA at acidic conditions due to protonation effects of P(CA-co-LA) copolymers. Furthermore, the in vitro and in vivo investigations demonstrate that the DOX-loaded NanoPCA exhibited significant tumor targeting ability, outstanding antitumor effect and excellent biological safety in the treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC). Therefore, this work provides a promising drug delivery platform for cancer therapy and other applications.