Dialdehyde starch nanoparticles as antitumor drug delivery system: An in vitro, in vivo, and immunohistological evaluation

Sustaining the release of therapeutic nanoparticles in a cell-, tissue-, or disease-specific manner is a potentially powerful technology. A new drug carrier-dialdehyde starch nanoparticle (DASNP) that can sustain the loading and release of 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) antitumor drug is reported in this study. IR spectrophotometer and H-1 NMR confirmed the formation of aldehyde groups, and scan electron microscope determinations showed that the dialdehyde starch nanoparticles obtained had an average diameter of 90 nm. 5-Fu, the model drug, was conjugated into nanoparticles by aldehyde groups. These 5-Fu-binding nanoparticles significantly enhanced breast cancer cell (MCF-7) inhibition in vitro compared with free 5-Fu. After subcutaneous 0 injection in the breast tumor-loaded rats, 5-Fu-DASNP exhibited remarkable tumor-inhibitory efficacy determined by measuring tumor weight in vivo. The tumor inhibition of 5-Fu-DASNP was 61%+/- 6%, whereas that of free 5-Fu was only 42%+/- 4%. Bcl-2/Bax immunohistochemistry studies indicated that 5-Fu-DASNP remarkably induced tumor tissue necrosis. These results demonstrated that the DASNP prepared in this work is a potentially effective drug carrier.