Synthesis and Characterization of AICAR and DOX Conjugated Multifunctional Nanoparticles as a Platform for Synergistic Inhibition of Cancer Cell Growth.

The success of cancer treatment depends on the response to chemotherapeutic agents. However, malignancies often acquire resistance to drugs if they are used frequently. Combination therapy involving both a chemotherapeutic agent and molecularly targeted therapy may have the ability to retain and enhance therapeutic efficacy. Here, we addressed this issue by examining the efficacy of a novel therapeutic strategy that combines AICAR and DOX within a multifunctional platform. In this context, we reported the bottom-up synthesis of Fe3O4@SiO2(FITC)-FA/AICAR/DOX multifunctional nanoparticles aiming to neutralize survivin (BIRC5) to potentiate the efficacy of DOX against chemoresistance. The structure of nanoparticles was characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta-potential measurement, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and electron microscopy (SEM and STEM with EDX) techniques. Cellular uptake and cytotoxicity experiments demonstrated preferentially targeted delivery of nanoparticles and an efficient reduction of cancer cell viability in five different tumor-derived cell lines (A549, HCT-116, HeLa, Jurkat, and MIA PaCa-2). These results indicate that the multifunctional nanoparticle system possesses high inhibitory drug association and sustained cytotoxic effect with good biocompatibility. This novel approach which combines AICAR and DOX within a single platform might be promising as an antitumor treatment for cancer.