Zinc Zeolite as a Carrier for Tumor Targeted and pH-responsive Drug Delivery

In this work, for the first time, a material was prepared that releases the drug in a controlled manner under the influence of the pH of cancer environment. The material is zinc zeolite, which only releases the drug at an acidic pH. The release of the drug in an acidic environment indicates a very high potential of the synthesized material in the treatment of cancer. This material does not release the drug at pH 7.4 even for more than 100 h which proves that healthy organs will not be affected. The advantage of this material over those previously described in the literature is that it releases the drug very quickly under the influence of the cancerous environment (88% of the drug during approx 2 h), as well as the fact that it does not release the drug in a different environment. Materials with both features have not been previously described, there are only works on materials having one of these features. Moreover, this material releases zinc ions which additionally act on cancer cells by inducing apoptosis of cancer cells by increasing the intracellular production of reactive oxygen species.