مشخصات پژوهش

Combined therapy is a promising strategy for clinical cancer treatment with synergistic effects. The purpose of the work reported was to evaluate a smart nanocarrier for co-delivery of doxorubicin (DOX) and methotrexate (MTX). Since star-like nanocarriers can load a high dose of drugs with various properties, we developed star polymer nanomicelles based on poly[(2,2-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate)-block-(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-block-(acrylic acid)] having potential for multi-drug delivery. The nanomicelles demonstrated high encapsulation efficiency, i.e. 97.1% for DOX and 79.5% for MTX. To this end, the star-like terpolymers were synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization with pentaerythritol as an initiator. The micellar properties and dual stimuli-responsive behaviour of the terpolymers were investigated using transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering measurements, concluding that this co-therapy offers a promising approach for cancer treatment.