Self-carried curcumin nanoparticles for in vitro and in vivo cancer therapy with real-time monitoring of drug release

The use of different nanocarriers for delivering hydrophobic pharmaceutical agents to tumor sites has garnered major attention. Despite the merits of these nanocarriers, further studies are needed to improve their drug loading capacities (which are typically 78 wt%. Both confocal microscopy and flow cytometry confirmed the cellular fluorescence "OFF-ON" activation and real-time monitoring of the Cur molecule release. In vitro and in vivo experiments clearly show that the therapeutic efficacy of the PEGylated Cur NPs is considerably better than that of free Cur. This self-carried strategy with real-time monitoring of drug release may open a new way for simultaneous cancer therapy and monitoring.