Iron Oxide Mesoporous Magnetic Nanostructures with High Surface Area for Enhanced and Selective Drug Delivery to Metastatic Cancer Cells

Abstract

This work reports the fabrication of iron oxide mesoporous magnetic nanostructures (IO-MMNs) via the nano-replication method using acid-prepared mesoporous spheres (APMS) as the rigid silica host and iron (III) nitrate as the iron precursor. The obtained nanosized mesostructures were fully characterized by SEM, TEM, DLS, FTIR, XRD, VSM, and nitrogen physisorption. IO-MMNs exhibited relatively high surface areas and large pore volumes (SBET = 70–120 m2/g and Vpore = 0.25–0.45 cm3/g), small sizes (~300 nm), good crystallinity and magnetization, and excellent biocompatibility. With their intrinsic porosities, high drug loading efficiencies (up to 70%) were achieved and the drug release rates were found to be pH-dependent. Cytotoxicity, confocal microscopy, and flow cytometry experiments against different types of cancerous cells indicated that Dox-loaded IO-MMNs reduced the viability of metastatic MCF-7 and KAIMRC-1 breast as well as HT-29 colon cancer cells, with the least uptake and toxicity towards normal primary cells (up to 4-fold enhancement). These results strongly suggest the potential use of IO-MMNs as promising agents for enhanced and effective drug delivery in cancer theranostics.

Targeting the Gut: A Systematic Review of Specific Drug Nanocarriers

“…In the context of gut diseases, SPIONs are often exploited in colon cancer therapy [ 212 ]. SPIONs are typically composed of iron oxide [ 213 , 214 , 215 , 216 , 217 , 218 ] or cobalt-nickel-niobium-iron oxide [ 219 , 220 ] cores, and, as with other nanocarriers, they can be functionalized with (or encapsulated in) biopolymers which improve their biocompatibility and—in the context of gut-specific therapies—their interaction with intestinal mucosa. Specifically, colon tumor cells can be tackled by exploiting SPION-enabled molecular targeting (e.g., HA functionalization to bind CD44-overexpressing cells) or pH-promoted release [ 126 , 221 ].…”

Synthesis of Magnetic Iron Oxide-Incorporated Cellulose Composite Particles: An Investigation on Antioxidant Properties and Drug Delivery Applications

“…When the drug-releasing behavior was investigated, it was noticed that the release rate in the WTP/MIO-NCPs and SCB/MIO-NCPs was significantly ( p -value ≤ 0.05) slower than that of pure cellulose (SCB and WTP). This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that metronidazole was tightly held within the pores of the NCPs by the strong electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding between the drugs and particle or pore surfaces at neutral pH [ 54 ]. Moreover, the overall drug release is affected by the rate of solvent uptake and the diffusion rate of the drug.…”

Drug Bioavailability, Stability and Anticancer Effect of Berberine-loaded Magnetic Nanoparticles on MDA-MB-231 Cells in Breast Cancer

“…The Cytotoxicity Study of Berberine loaded MCM-41 MNPs was performed on selected Breast Cancer Cells named MDA-MB-231 determined by Cell Proliferation Assay with MTT Reagent. [27][28] The cytotoxic effects of free MNP MCM-41, BBR and BBR/MCM-41 were evaluated on breast cancer cells i.e., MDA-MB-231 using 3-(4, 5-dimethylthialzol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay methods. 25 The MDA-MB-231 cells were treated by free MNP MCM-41, BBR and BBR/ MCM-41 at different concentrations ranging from 0−40 μg/ml for 24 hr.…”