Multifunctional nanocomposite based on lactose@layered double hydroxide-hydroxyapatite as a pH-sensitive system for targeted delivery of doxorubicin to liver cancer cells

Developing porous nanocarriers through simple methods is one of the main approaches to produce the drug delivery systems. In this study, a pH-sensitive multifunctional nanocomposite of doxorubicin/Lactose@layered double hydroxidehydroxyapatite (DOX/Lactose@LDH-HAp) was designed for drug targeted delivery and controlled release to enhance the cancer treatment efficacy. To the best of our knowledge, there are a very few literatures in which LDH is used as carrier for loading drug DOX, which is a useful extension for only a limited number of anti-cancer drugs (usually anionic drugs) loaded in LDH based carriers. The structure and morphology of the prepared nanocomposite were thoroughly analyzed by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Dynamic Light Scattering Particle Size (DLS) and Zeta Potential, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The prepared system achieved an encapsulation efficiency (EE) and drug-loading content (DLC) of 88.4 % and 18.84 %, respectively. The DOX release experiments from nanocomposite showed a controlled and pH-dependent behavior. In-vitro cytotoxicity and DAPI staining tests of the DOX/ Lactose@LDH-HAp showed high cancer-cell suppression on human liver cancer cell lines (HepG2 cells). Thus, the obtained results in this study suggest that the designed multifunctional nanocomposite could be used as an efficient system for targeted and controlled delivery of various anti-cancer drugs and other biomedical applications.