title: Unibody core-shell smart polymer as a theranostic nanoparticle for drug delivery and MR imaging.
abstract: Developing novel multifunctional nanoparticles (NPs) with robust preparation, low cost, high stability, and flexible functionalizability is highly desirable. This study provides an innovative platform, termed unibody core-shell (UCS), for this purpose. UCS is comprised of two covalent-bonded polymers differed only by the functional groups at the core and the shell. By conjugating Gd(3+) at the stable core and encapsulating doxorubicin (Dox) at the shell in a pH-sensitive manner, we developed a theranostic NPs (UCS-Gd-Dox) that achieved a selective drug release (75% difference between pH 7.4 and 5.5) and MR imaging (r1 = 0.9 and 14.5 mm(-1) s(-1) at pH 7.4 and 5.5, respectively). The anti-cancer effect of UCS-Gd-Dox is significantly better than free Dox in tumor-bearing mouse models, presumably due to enhanced permeability and retention effect and pH-triggered release. To the best of our knowledge, this is the simplest approach to obtain the theranostic NPs with Gd-conjugation and Dox doping.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Lin-Chen
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Molecular Science and Technology Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chao-Hsiung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chung-Mao
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Graduate Institute of Cancer Biology and Drug Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Surgery, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tsang-Pai
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Lian-Pin
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: yylin@chem.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Yung-Ya
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: changht@ntu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Huan-Tsung
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005260:Female; D005682:Gadolinium; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D016513:Mice, SCID; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000627:therapeutic use* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011108:Polymers / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D005682:Gadolinium
keywords: Core–shell; Drug delivery; Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); Nanoparticle