Anticancer efficacy enhancement and attenuation of side effects of doxorubicin with titanium dioxide nanoparticles

BACKGROUND: Doxorubicin has a broad spectrum of anticancer activity, but its clinical application is limited due to serious side effects. The aim of this study was to explore a novel drug delivery system based on titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) nanoparticles for its potential role in enhancing the anticancer efficacy of doxorubicin while reducing its side effects. METHODS AND RESULTS: Doxorubicin was loaded into TiO(2) nanoparticles by forming complexes with the transition metal, titanium, to construct doxorubicin-titanium dioxide (DOX-TiO(2)) nanocomposites as a drug delivery system. The anticancer activity of the DOX-TiO(2) nanocomposites was demonstrated by MTT assay, and the possible signaling pathway was explored by Western blot. In human SMMC-7721 hepatocarcinoma cells, our observations demonstrated that this drug delivery system markedly increased the efficiency of drug per dosage and decreased the IC(50), resulting in anticancer efficacy enhancement and side effect attenuation. CONCLUSION: Such a doxorubicin delivery strategy is promising in cancer therapy. Apoptosis may contribute to the mechanism, due to protein expression of Bcl-2 being downregulated and that of Bax and caspase 3 being upregulated.