Thermal-responsive β-cyclodextrin-based magnetic hydrogel as a de novo nanomedicine for chemo/hyperthermia treatment of cancerous cells

A novel thermal-responsive beta-cyclodextrin-based magnetic hydrogel [beta-cyclodextrin-graft-poly(Nisopropylacrylamide)/Fe3O4 (beta-CD-g-PNIPAAm/Fe3O4)] was fabricated as a novel nanomedicine for chemo/hyperthermia treatment of cancer cells. Firstly, beta-CD was modified by maleic anhydride (MA) followed by copolymerization with NIPAAm monomer and thiol-end capped Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) in the presence of a crosslinker through acrylamide-thiol polymerization system to afford a magnetic hydrogel. The saturation magnetization (delta s) value for developed hydrogel was determined to be 8.2 emu g-1. The hydrogel was physically loaded with an anticancer agent, doxorubicin hydrochloride (Dox). The encapsulation efficiency (EE) of drug into the hydrogel was obtained as 73 %. The system represented acceptable thermal-triggered drug release behavior that best fitted with Higuchi model, demonstrating the release of drug is mostly controlled by diffusion mechanism. The anticancer performance of the beta-CD-g-PNIPAAm/Fe3O4Dox was evaluated using MCF7 cells by MTT-assay. In addition, flow cytometry analyses showed considerable cellular uptake of Dox in the cells treated with beta-CD-g-PNIPAAm/Fe3O4-Dox (-70 %) compared to free Dox (-28 %). As results, in time period of 48 h by combination of chemoand hyperthermia-therapies, the developed system displayed greater anticancer efficiency than the free Dox.