title: Self-carried curcumin nanoparticles for in vitro and in vivo cancer therapy with real-time monitoring of drug release.
abstract: The use of different nanocarriers for delivering hydrophobic pharmaceutical agents to tumor sites has garnered major attention. Despite the merits of these nanocarriers, further studies are needed to improve their drug loading capacities (which are typically <10%) and reduce their potential systemic toxicity. Therefore, the development of alternative self-carried nanodrug delivery strategies without using inert carriers is highly desirable. In this study, we developed a self-carried curcumin (Cur) nanodrug for highly effective cancer therapy in vitro and in vivo with real-time monitoring of drug release. With a biocompatible C18PMH-PEG functionalization, the Cur nanoparticles (NPs) showed excellent dispersibility and outstanding stability in physiological environments with drug loading capacities >78 wt%. Both confocal microscopy and flow cytometry confirmed the cellular fluorescence "OFF-ON" activation and real-time monitoring of the Cur molecule release. In vitro and in vivo experiments clearly show that the therapeutic efficacy of the PEGylated Cur NPs is considerably better than that of free Cur. This self-carried strategy with real-time monitoring of drug release may open a new way for simultaneous cancer therapy and monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Nano-organic Photoelectronic Laboratory, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190 Beijing, P. R. China. xiaohong_zhang@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jinfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shengliang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Fei-Fei
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shubin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Jin-Chao
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chun-Sing
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Xing-Jie
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003474:Curcumin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004337:Drug Carriers; D003474:Curcumin