Immobilized transferrin Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ nanoparticle with high doxorubicin loading for dual-targeted tumor drug delivery

Wence Ding, Lin Guo

Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China

Abstract: Transferrin (Tf) was immobilized onto Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ nanoparticles with high doxorubicin (DOX) loading (TfDMP), for dual targeting of cancer, by chemically coupling both Tf and DOX with dual-function magnetic nanoparticles (DMPs) using a multi-armed crosslinker, poly-L-glutamic acid. With high trapping efficiency for magnetic targeting, TfDMP exhibits a Tf receptor-targeting function. Moreover, the DOX loading percentage of TfDMP is high, and can be controlled by adjusting the reactant ratio. TfDMP presents a narrow size distribution, and is sensitive to pH for drug release. Compared with DOX-coupled DMP without Tf modification (DDMP), TfDMP exhibits enhanced uptake by Tf receptor-expressing tumor cells, and displays stronger cancer cell cytotoxicity. This study provides an efficient method for the dual-targeted delivery of therapeutic agents to tumors, with controlled low carrier toxicity and high efficiency.

Keywords: transferrin, Fe₃O₄@SiO₂, nanoparticle, doxorubicin, targeted tumor