Sol-gel system functionalized magnetic nanocubes as remote controlled drug carriers for cooperative tumor-targeted therapy

To develop vehicles for remote controlled anticancer drug release efficiently, we report a remotely triggered drug delivery system based on magnetic nanocubes. The synthesized magnetic nanocubes with average edge length of around 30 nm acted as cores, while folic acid (FA) decorated amphiphilic Pluronic® F-127 gels (F127) were employed as the coating layers. The hydrophobic anticancer drug paclitaxel was loaded during the formation of nanocarrier via hydrophobic interaction. The carrier was stable at physiological temperature and paclitaxel released with an alternating magnetic field treatment, owing to the phase change of F127 when environment temperature elevated via magnetocaloric effect. Cell viability assay and confocal laser scanning microscopy observations demonstrated that the loaded paclitaxel could be efficiently released after cellular endocytosis and induced cancer cells apoptosis with a cooperative effect of hyperthermia and chemotherapy thereby. All results suggested that FA-F127 coated magnetic nanocubes would be a promising remotely controlled drug carrier for cooperative cancer therapy.