AUTHOR=Kong Na , Deng Mei , Sun Xiu-Na , Chen Yi-Ding , Sui Xin-Bing 

TITLE=Polydopamine-Functionalized CA-(PCL-ran-PLA) Nanoparticles for Target Delivery of Docetaxel and Chemo-photothermal Therapy of Breast Cancer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2018.00125

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2018.00125

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=<p>Current limitations of cancer therapy include the lack of effective strategy for target delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs, and the difficulty of achieving significant efficacy by single treatment. Herein, we reported a synergistic chemo-photothermal strategy based on aptamer (Apt)-polydopamine (pD) functionalized CA-(PCL-<italic>ran</italic>-PLA) nanoparticles (NPs) for effective delivery of docetaxel (DTX) and enhanced therapeutic effect. The developed DTX-loaded Apt-pD-CA-(PCL-<italic>ran</italic>-PLA) NPs achieved promising advantages, such as (i) improved drug loading content (LC) and encapsulation efficiency (EE) initiated by star-shaped copolymer CA-(PCL-<italic>ran</italic>-PLA); (ii) effective target delivery of drugs to tumor sites by incorporating AS1411 aptamers; (iii) significant therapeutic efficacy caused by synergistic chemo-photothermal treatment. In addition, the pD coating strategy with simple procedures could address the contradiction between targeting modification and maintaining formerly excellent bio-properties. Therefore, with excellent bio-properties and simple preparation procedures, the DTX-loaded Apt-pD-CA-(PCL-<italic>ran</italic>-PLA) NPs effectively increased the local drug concentration in tumor sites, minimized side effects, and significantly eliminated tumors, indicating the promising application of these NPs for cancer therapy.</p>