Trojan-like doxorubicin and gold nanoparticle entrapped smart nanostructured lipid carriers for breast cancer synergistic chemo/photothermal therapy

Breast cancer is one of the fatal diseases renowned worldwide. Chemotherapy is not sufficient for the treatment of breast cancer in a significant number of cases. In this study, we present the doxorubicin (DOX) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (DOX+AuNPs)@NLCs, designed for dual chemo/ photothermal therapy. Different geometries of AuNPs (gold nanospheres (AuNSs), gold nanorods (AuNRs), and gold nanocubes (AuNCs)) were also loaded in NLCs to exploit their photothermal heating capacity and to conceptualize the most efficient combination of drug delivery system for combined therapy. The light-triggered on-demand release of DOX from NLCs was examined before and after NIR irradiation (808 nm). The highest heating potential was obtained via AuNRs with & UDelta;T = 22 degrees C in 5 min with 19.5 & mu;g Au/mg lipid. The cytotoxic effect of these formulations was evaluated on MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and the highest growth inhibition (81%) is achieved with (DOX+AuNRs)@NLC under 5 min NIR application. It is found that the geometry directly effects the photothermal capability of AuNPs, a synergistic interaction between cytotoxic action of DOX and local hyperthermia provided by AuNPs can significantly enhance the skills on the irreversible cellular damage and developed state-of-art formulations hold a great potential as a combined-cancer-therapy agent. Thus, this study offers promise for the development of a lipid-based nano-platform that is biocompatible, multifunctional, and can be utilized for combined therapy, with tunable properties.

Automated summary

This study presents a dual chemo/photothermal therapy for breast cancer using doxorubicin (DOX) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (DOX+AuNPs)@NLCs. Different geometries of AuNPs (AuNSs, AuNRs, and AuNCs) were loaded in NLCs to enhance their photothermal heating capacity. The release of DOX from NLCs was triggered by NIR irradiation. AuNRs showed the highest heating potential with a temperature increase of 22 degrees C in 5 minutes. The cytotoxic effect of (DOX+AuNRs)@NLCs was the highest among all formulations, achieving 81% growth inhibition in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells under 5 minutes of NIR application. The study suggests that the geometry of AuNPs affects their photothermal capability, and the combination of DOX and local hyperthermia provided by AuNPs can greatly enhance cellular damage.