Histidine polypeptide-hybridized nanoscale metal-organic framework to sense drug loading/release

Histidine Polypeptide-Hybridized Nanoscale Metal-Organic Framework (fH12/ZIF-8) can be produced effectively in water at room temperature without using any additives. The fluorescein label also provides a useful method to quantify the extent to which the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) is loaded into or released from the resulting MOFs. In vitro studies have shown that fH12/ZIF-8 has the useful property of dissolving and controlled rates at low pH. It ruptured fastest in PBS buffer solution with pH 6.3, and the release rate reached 50% at 4 h. Furthermore, it showed that the addition of histidine polypeptides increases uptake by HepG-2 cells. This study integrates drug loading and detecting aspects into a single theranostic platform by a simple and efficient strategy, opening a new route for the construction of advanced drug delivery systems. (c) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

Automated summary

The histidine polypeptide-hybridized nanoscale metal-organic framework can be effectively produced in water at room temperature without additives, and it exhibits useful properties of dissolution and controlled release in low pH conditions. Furthermore, it increases uptake by cancer cells, opening a new route for advanced drug delivery systems.