BackgroundA folate-receptor-targeted poly (lactide-co-Glycolide) (PLGA)-Polyethylene glycol (PEG) nanoparticle is developed for encapsulation and delivery of disulfiram into breast cancer cells. After a comprehensive characterization of nanoparticles, cell cytotoxicity, apoptosis induction, cellular uptake and intracellular level of reactive oxygen species are analyzed. In vivo acute and chronic toxicity of nanoparticles and their efficacy on inhibition of breast cancer tumor growth is studied.ResultsThe folate-receptor-targeted nanoparticles are internalized into the cells, induce reactive oxygen species formation, induce apoptosis and inhibit cell proliferation more efficiently compared to the untargeted nanoparticles. The acute and toxicity test show the maximum dose of disulfiram equivalent of nanoparticles for intra-venous injection is 6 mg/kg while show significant decrease in the breast cancer tumor growth rate.ConclusionIt is believed that the developed formulation could be used as a potential vehicle for successful delivery of disulfiram, an old and inexpensive drug, into breast cancer cells and other solid tumors.Graphical abstractDisulfiram, an old and inexpensive drug, is encapsulated in folate-targeted PLGA-PEG nanoparticles and delivered into breast cancer cells using passive and active targeting to inhibit tumor growth in mice

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This study focus on the effect of the porogenic solvent on the morphology, recognition, and drug release of carbamazepine-molecularly imprinted polymer nanospheres prepared by precipitation polymerization. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis showed that molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) prepared by acetonitrile exhibited a regular spherical shape at the nanoscale with a high degree of monodispersity, specific surface area of 242 m 2 g À1 , and pore volume of 1 mL g À1 , while those using chloroform and toluene produced irregular polymer particles with low specific surface area and pore volume. MIP prepared by acetonitrile/chloroform (1 : 1, v/v) showed mediator texture properties compared to MIPs obtained by acetonitrile or chloroform. Results from saturation and displacement assays indicated that the imprinted nanospheres with binding capacity of 2.85 (mg CBZ/g polymer) had high specific affinity to CBZ in contrast to nonimprinted nanospheres (1.63 mg CBZ/g polymer). The imprinted nanospheres with 2.4 selectivity factor had good recognition to CBZ than analog template of oxcarbazepine. Moreover, release studies showed that 20% of loaded CBZ was released from the imprinted nanospheres within the initial 6 h, while another 80% of CBZ was released in the following 9 days.

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