Carrier-Free Nanoparticles via Coassembly of Paclitaxel and Gambogic Acid with Folate-Functionalized Albumin for Targeted Tumor Treatment

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Various traditional drug delivery systems usually have complex compositions and exhibit relatively low drug loading (<10 wt %) due to a lack of affinity with drugs, leading to the potential adverse effects of overdosed carrier materials and manufacturing costs. Herein, carrier-free nanoparticles with ultrahigh drug loading, reduced drug toxicity, and targeting delivery ability are developed by the adsorption of folate-functionalized albumin (FA-HSA) and drugs. Hydrophobic drugs paclitaxel (PTX) and gambogic acid (GA) form carrier-free PTX/GA via coassembly, followed by the adsorption of FA-HSA on the surface of PTX/GA to fabricate PTX/GA@FA-HSA with high drug loading capacity and the targeting ability via the FA-folate receptor (FR)-mediated recognition pathway. PTX/GA@FA-HSA exhibits a spherical core–shell nanostructure and a diameter of 130.0 ± 1.4 nm. Compared to the traditional drug delivery systems, PTX/GA@FA-HSA exhibits high drug loading (∼81.5%) due to two drugs acting as both the carriers and the cargos. Experimental results demonstrate that both PTX and GA in PTX/GA@FA-HSA can be delivered and internalized into MDA-MB-231 cells via the FA-FR-mediated recognition pathway. Meanwhile, PTX/GA@FA-HSA exhibited enhanced tumor targeting ability and negligible side effects in MDA-MB-231 tumor-bearing nude mice, which provides an insight for designing advanced carrier-free nanocarriers with targeting ability.