Metal Organic Frameworks as Drug Targeting Delivery Vehicles in the Treatment of Cancer

Abstract

In recent years, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely developed as vehicles for the effective delivery of drugs to tumor tissues. Due to the high loading capacity and excellent biocompatibility of MOFs, they provide an unprecedented opportunity for the treatment of cancer. However, drugs which are commonly used to treat cancer often cause side effects in normal tissue accumulation. Therefore, the strategy of drug targeting delivery based on MOFs has excellent research significance. Here, we introduce several intelligent targeted drug delivery systems based on MOFs and their characteristics as drug-loading systems, and the challenges of MOFs are discussed. This article covers the following types of MOFs: Isoreticular Metal Organic Frameworks (IRMOFs), Materials of Institute Lavoisier (MILs), Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs), University of Oslo (UiOs), and MOFs-based core-shell structures. Generally, MOFs can be reasonably controlled at the nanometer size to effectively achieve passive targeting. In addition, different ligands can be modified on MOFs for active or physicochemical targeting. On the one hand, the targeting strategy can improve the concentration of the drugs at the tumor site to improve the efficacy, on the other hand, it can avoid the release of the drugs in normal tissues to improve safety. Despite the challenges of clinical application of MOFs, MOFs have a number of advantages as a kind of smart delivery vehicle, which offer possibilities for clinical applications.

Functionalization of MOF-5 with mono-substituents: effects on drug delivery behavior

“…42 At present, the most-common active targeting strategy is to connect the targeting ligand to the drug delivery system, which requires the drug system to have an active group to gra the targeting ligand. 43 Laha and colleagues linked folic acid (FA) to the amino group of IRMOF-3 to deliver curcumin to triple negative breast cancer cells. 44 However, it was difficult to modify the FA to the surface of the MOFs without active groups.…”

Identifying Differing Intracellular Cargo Release Mechanisms by Monitoring In Vitro Drug Delivery from MOFs in Real Time

“… 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 The ability to control particle size, 7 , 8 , 9 surface chemistry, 10 and internal porosity 11 , 12 has led to increasingly complex MOF-based materials. These have been designed to target specific cells 13 and organelles, 14 transport large specialized cargo such as oligonucleotides and proteins, 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 release these in response to specific stimuli, 20 , 21 and combine drug delivery with other techniques such as imaging 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 or photodynamic therapy. 27 , 28 Despite this diversification of material, the process of postsynthetic drug loading itself is often undercharacterized; cargo is often simply assumed to penetrate the porosity of the MOF despite potential competition from loading solvents.…”

Cancer Cell Membrane Technology for Cancer Therapy

“…Unfortunately, they suffer from a lack of active targeting and premature metabolism in the body, which reduces their circulation time and poses the risk of early drug release. [69] Interestingly, cancer cell membrane coating technology helps overcome some of the problems with MOF. The first use of the MOF was done by Yue et al, who showed the better killing efficiency of a new drug Berberine by incorporating them in a mesoporous organosilica based MOF.…”

“…Since the last decade, metal‐organic frameworks (MOF) based nanoparticle played an important role, due to their high surface area and easy modification of pore size that leads to better drug loading capacity. Unfortunately, they suffer from a lack of active targeting and premature metabolism in the body, which reduces their circulation time and poses the risk of early drug release [69] . Interestingly, cancer cell membrane coating technology helps overcome some of the problems with MOF.…”