Synergistic Effect Evaluation of Magnetotherapy and a Cationic–Magnetic Nanocomposite Loaded with Doxorubicin for Targeted Drug Delivery to Breast Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

This work investigates the synergistic effect of magnetotherapy and a novel cationic−magnetic drug delivery system on inhibiting breast cancer cell growth and other tissues. First, super-paramagnetic magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) nanoparticles were coated with doxorubicin-imprinted poly(methacrylic acid-co-diallyl dimethylammonium chloride) [Fe 3 O 4 /poly(MAA-DDA)]. The cationic−magnetic nanocomposite (CMC) was characterized using XRD, FT-IR, VSM, TGA, TEM, FESEM, EDS, DLS, and BET. In vitro analyses, including drug release kinetics, cytotoxicity, and hemolytic assays, confirmed this novel CMC's good drug release profile and biocompatibility. Finally, in vivo experiments on BALB/c mice were designed to evaluate the synergistic effect of magnetotherapy on targeted drug delivery using the CMC. In vivo fluorescence imaging evaluated the drug distribution in different tissues of mice. Tumor volume evaluation demonstrated the efficiency of the CMC and magnetotherapy in preventing tumor growth; the two techniques significantly reduced tumor volume. Histopathological analysis proved that applying magnetotherapy in conjunction with the cationic−magnetic drug delivery system significantly prevented tumor cell proliferation and increased apoptosis with limited impact on other tissues. Also, Dox and Fe concentrations in different tissues confirmed the efficient drug delivery to tumor cells.

Recent Progress and Challenges Regarding Magnetite-Based Nanoparticles for Targeted Drug Delivery

“…Besides natural polymers, synthetic polymer units have also been introduced in recently published original papers. Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 nanoparticles were subjected to coating with DOX-imprinted poly(methacrylic acid-co-diallyl dimethylammonium chloride) to form a cationic magnetic nanocomposite [50]. Commonly, cancer cells are characterized by a negative charge; thus, a positively charged nanocarrier should penetrate such cells more efficiently.…”

“…Fluorescence microscopy, both conventional and confocal, is one of such methods, chosen for its relatively straightforward experimental setup. Its utilization was identified in numerous original papers referenced in this review [46][47][48]50,51,63,71,73,80,84,88,90,95,[101][102][103][104]110,117]. It allows for studying extensive cell populations or relatively sizable tissue samples.…”