Preparing Sodium Alginate/Polyethyleneimine Spheres for Potential Application of Killing Tumor Cells by Reducing the Concentration of Copper Ions in the Lesions of Colon Cancer.

Ru Xu,Jingan Li,Kun Zhang,Chen Su,Longlong Cui

doi:10.3390/ma12091570

Abstract

Inhibition of residual malignant tumors in patients with colon cancer after operation is one of the difficulties in rehabilitation treatment. At present, using biocompatible materials to remove the copper ion which is the growth dependence of malignant tumors in the lesion site is considered to be the frontier means to solve this problem. In this work, we developed a sodium alginate (SA)/polyethyleneimine (PEI) hydrogel sphere via cross-linking method (SA/SP/SA; SP = SA/PEI) as an oral biomaterial for adsorbing and removing copper ions from colon cancer lesions. The evaluated results showed that the SA/PEI/SA (SPS) hydrogel sphere obtained the largest swelling rate at pH 8.3 which was the acid-base value of colon microenvironment and absorbed more copper ions compared with the SA control. The cell experiment presented that the SPS hydrogel sphere owned better compatibility on normal fibroblasts and promoted higher death of colon cancer cells compared with SA/PEI (SP) and SA control. Our data suggested that the SA/PEI hydrogel sphere had the potentiality as an oral biomaterial for inhibiting colon cancer cells.

Highlights

Colon cancer is a kind of malignant gastrointestinal cancer with a high incidence among people aged 40–50 years; it is the third most common cancer of that age group [1,2]
Studies have shown that the accumulation of copper ions in cancerous sites is an important factor for the survival and proliferation of cancer cells [7,8]; removal of copper ions accumulated in the colon may be effective in killing cancer cells
Because the color of sodium alginate solution was light yellow, the spheres encapsulated with sodium alginate showed the same color

Summary

Introduction

Colon cancer is a kind of malignant gastrointestinal cancer with a high incidence among people aged 40–50 years; it is the third most common cancer of that age group [1,2]. The main treatment method for colon cancer is surgical resection, supplemented by chemotherapy and drug treatment [3,4]. About half of patients may suffer from postoperative metastasis and recurrence that endanger their life [5]. Some patients show no significant improvement on preoperative and postoperative radiotherapy [6]. There is an urgent need for a targeted and effective method to inhibit and kill colon cancer cells as an adjuvant or alternative therapy for surgery and chemotherapy. Studies have shown that the accumulation of copper ions in cancerous sites is an important factor for the survival and proliferation of cancer cells [7,8]; removal of copper ions accumulated in the colon may be effective in killing cancer cells

Methods

Results

Conclusion