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Ursolic acid (UA) has shown great potential in cancer therapy but their efficacy is seriously compromised by poor water-solubility and limited cellular uptake. In this paper, cationic nanomicelles self-assembled from Pluronic F127 with the cationic polymer of C18-polyethylenimine (C18-PEI) as a functional component are fabricated as delivery vehicles of Chinese herbal medicine active components of ursolic acid (UA) for colorectal cancer treatment. The inhibition effects of this drug loaded cationic nanomicelles (named as FUP) on cell viability and cell colony formation were more significant than the free UA, due to their cationic surface which can increase UA uptake by colorectal cancer cells. Cell cycle analysis showed that this inhibition effect was mediated by a cell cycle arrest at the G1 checkpoint, and the cell death induced by these nanomicelles occurred via apoptosis, which was detected by annexin V antibody and propidium iodide staining. Further western blot analysis demonstrated the apoptosis mechanism was associated with the regulation of Fas/FasL and activation of caspase-8 and caspase-3. Therefore, our cationic nanomicelles can potentially be used to enhance the therapeutic effect of UA for colorectal cancer treatment.

Prussian Blue-based nanoparticles have been explored as the new generation of NIR-driven photothermal conversion agents (PTCAs) for cancer treatment. However, PTT treatment alone has limited therapeutic efficiency since it could not eliminate tumor cells completely. In this paper, we synthesized Prussian Blue nanocages (PBNCs) loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) (referred to as PBNCs–DOX nanocomposites) as efficient drug delivery vehicles, combining the photothermal therapy function of Prussian Blue and the chemotherapy function of DOX to enhance the therapeutic efficiency against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The prepared PBNCs–DOX nanocomposites were characterized by TEM and FT-IR spectroscopy. Fluorescence intensity (FI) measurements determined that the loading content of DOX in PBNCs was as high as 33.0 wt% and that the loading efficiency was up to 88.4%. The DOX release from the PBNCs could be triggered by the environmental pH and near infra-red (NIR) laser irradiation. An in vitro cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that the PBNCs–DOX nanocomposites had significantly higher killing efficacy against HepG2 cells in the presence of NIR irradiation, than those in the absence of NIR irradiation or those in the presence of NIR irradiation but treated with PBNCs rather than PBNCs–DOX nanocomposites. Therefore, PBNCs–DOX nanocomposites, which have integrated the photothermal therapy with the chemotherapy, might serve as promising dual-mode therapeutic agents for HCC treatment in the future.