Issue 37, 2015

A pH-responsive AIE nanoprobe as a drug delivery system for bioimaging and cancer therapy

Abstract

To construct a smart drug delivery system for simultaneous cellular imaging and cancer therapy, a pH-responsive amphiphilic polymer (MPEG-hyd-TPE) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) character was designed and successfully synthesized. Polymeric micelles self-assembled from MPEG-hyd-TPE exhibited a significant AIE effect in an aqueous solution with excellent biocompatibility; thus, it can be used for potential bioimaging applications. Moreover, the drug-loaded micelles showed typical pH-regulated drug release behavior. DOX was released more rapidly after the drug-loaded micelles were internalized into cancer cells due to the cleavage of the hydrazone bond under acidic endosomal/lysosomal conditions. In addition, in vitro results demonstrated that the drug-loaded micelles exhibited dose-dependent cytotoxicity to HeLa cells.

Graphical abstract: A pH-responsive AIE nanoprobe as a drug delivery system for bioimaging and cancer therapy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Jun 2015
Accepted
10 Aug 2015
First published
11 Aug 2015

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2015,3, 7401-7407

A pH-responsive AIE nanoprobe as a drug delivery system for bioimaging and cancer therapy

H. Wang, G. Liu, S. Dong, J. Xiong, Z. Du and X. Cheng, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2015, 3, 7401 DOI: 10.1039/C5TB01169H

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