Exploration of polydopamine capped bimetallic oxide (CuO-NiO) nanoparticles inspired by mussels for enhanced and targeted paclitaxel delivery for synergistic breast cancer therapy

Integration of antitumor drug and metallic nanoparticles in a polymeric nanosystem with effective properties is an emerging and promising tool to improve tumor treatment. Nevertheless, there is still a clinical need for multifunctional nanoparticles (NPs) to be developed for an all-in-one platform with specific targeting, less side effects and high therapeutic efficacy. In this research, pH-responsive bimetallic oxide-multifunctional NPs wrapped by polydopamine polymer for simultaneous cancer cell targeting and drug delivery were synthesized based on simple metal nanoparticle-ligand interactions. We explored a unique nanosystem of mussel inspired, polydopamine complexed with copper/nickel oxide NPs (CuO-NiO@PDA NPs). CuO-NiO@PDA NPs were then loaded with anticancer drug paclitaxel (PTX) via electrostatic or 7C-7C stacking interaction and functionalized with folic acid (FA), a tumor-targeting ligand, to form CuO-NiO@PDA-PTX/FA NPs. Results highlight therapeutic potential of CuO-NiO@PDA/FA NPs as paclitaxel delivery nanocarrier in breast cancer therapy with sustained drug release pattern due to their increased stability, biocompatibility and antitumor efficacy. Cell viability was demonstrated in vitro using AO/EB dual staining, and its anticancer potential was confirmed by a reactive ox-ygen species (ROS) assay and mitochondrial membrane potential staining experiments. Consequently, our designed CuO-NiO@PDA-PTX/FA NPs appear to be promising multipurpose nanocarriers with therapeutic po-tential for MCF-7 tumor targeting and penetration.

Automated summary

This research successfully synthesized a polymeric nanosystem that integrates pH-responsive bimetallic oxide-multifunctional nanoparticles and an antitumor drug, which shows promising potential for enhancing tumor treatment. The nanosystem possesses specific targeting, less side effects, and high therapeutic efficacy, making it a multi-purpose nanocarrier for breast cancer therapy.