Oxaliplatin-chitosan nanoparticles induced intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway: a "smart" drug delivery system to breast cancer cell therapy.

This study was to investigate "smart" pH-responsive drug delivery system (DDS) based on chitosan nano-carrier for its potential intelligent controlled release and enhancing chemotherapeutic efficiency of Oxalipaltin. Oxaliplatin was loaded onto chitosan by forming complexes with degradable to construct nano-carrier as a DDS. Oxaliplatin was released from the DDS much more rapidly at pH 4.5 than at pH 7.4, which is a desirable characteristic for tumor-targeted drug delivery. Furthermore, the possible intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway was explored by Western blot. It was found that expression of Bax, Bik, cytochrome C, caspase-9 and -3 was significantly up-regulated while the Bcl-2 and Survivin were inhibited in breast cancer MCF-7 cells. For instance, nanoparticles inducing apoptosis in caspase-dependent manner indicate that chitosan nanoparticles could act as an efficient DDS importing Oxalipaltin to target cancer cells. These approaches suggest that "smart" Oxaliplatin delivery strategy is a promising approach to cancer therapy.