Intracellularly Degradable, Self-Assembled Amphiphilic Block Copolycurcumin Nanoparticles for Efficient In Vivo Cancer Chemotherapy

Abstract

Intracellularly degradable, self-assembled amphiphilic biotin-poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(curcumin-dithiodipropionic acid) nanoparticles are developed. They display excellent in vivo anticancer efficacy, benefitted from their high tumor-targeted accumulation and stimuli-triggered intracellular drug release. They can be loaded with other anticancer drugs (e.g., doxorubicin) to exploit the synergy of combinational dual-drug therapy to further enhance in vivo anticancer efficacy.

Keywords: cancer therapy; curcumin; drug delivery; nanomedicine; polycurcumin; self-assembly.