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As the typical bio-macromolecules, cellulose and its derivates are widely studied due to the fact that they are green and renewable resources in nature. In this work, intelligent temperature-pH sensitive nanohydrogels consisting of nanocellulose, thermal responsive monomer (N-isopropylacrylamide, NIPAM), and pH responsive monomer (acrylic acid, AA; acrylamide, AM) were prepared [NFC-g-(AA/AM)]-g-NIPAM, the [NFC-g-(AA/AM)]-g-NIPAM was characterized by FTIR, scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and automatic gas adsorption analysis (BET). The results showed that the copolymerization of AA, AM and NIPAM were carried out successfully. The specific surface area, total pore volume, average pore diameter and thermal stability of the modified nano-cellulose were increased. In addition, the as-prepared nanohydrogels with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) released more 5-FU at 40 °C and acidic condition compared to the room temperature and neutral pH, showing the characteristics of the temperature-PH dual response functionalization. The [NFC-g-(AA/AM)]-g-NIPAM have been proved to be the promising drug release nanohydrogels towards 5-FU, and the valuable findings might provide an idea for maximizing the potential of the nanocellulose-based nanohydrogels for the application of environmental pollution control., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this study, self-assembled nanoparticles based on amphiphilic xylan-stearic acid (Xyl-SA) conjugates have been developed for the efficient delivery of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in cancer therapy. The self-assembled behavior of Xyl-SA conjugates in aqueous medium was investigated using pyrene as fluorescent probe. To enhance the loading efficacy of 5-FU, the lipophilic 5-fluorouracil-stearic acid (5-FUSA) prodrug was synthesized and subsequently encapsulated into the hydrophobic core of Xyl-SA NPs. The obtained Xyl-SA/5-FUSA NPs had an appropriate size (~278 nm), high drug loading of 5-FUSA (~14.6 wt%) and high physiological stability. The interaction of the Xyl-SA/5-FUSA NPs with blood components was investigated by hemolysis study. The cell cytotoxic studies demonstrated that Xyl-SA/5-FUSA NPs induced higher cytotoxicity than free drugs against the Human colorectal cancer cells (HT-29, HCT-15). These results indicate that Xyl-SA/5-FUSA NPs can serve as a promising drug delivery system for the efficient delivery of 5-FU in cancer therapy., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown great potentials as drug delivery carriers, but the conventional methods for MOFs synthesis limited their use in biomedicine. The aim of this study was engineered tumor-targeted zinc nanoscale MOFs encapsulating chemotherapy drug., Methods: We employed post-synthetic modification to construct tumor cell-targeted nanoscale zinc MOFs (nanoMOFs) functionalized with folate as the targeting ligand that binds specifically to folate receptors on tumor cells. The cytoctoxicity of drug-loaded nanoMOFs was measured by MTT assay. The cell target was tested by cell compete assay., Results: The successful synthesis of folate-targeted nanoMOFs was confirmed by FTIR, 1 H-NMR and ESI-MS analysis. In the drug loading test, the zinc nanoMOFs functionalized with folate quickly adsorbed up to 24 wt % 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) without causing obvious changes in the supramolecular crystalline organization of the material. The in vitro drug release profile of this nanoMOFs in phosphate buffered saline exhibited a biphasic pattern. The drug sustained release is the effect mainly of diffusion of 5-FU molecules, while the degradation of the carrier itself plays a minor role in this process. The drug-loaded nanoMOFs showed a stronger cytotoxicity than free 5-FU against three cancer cell lines in vitro with a distinct selectivity between folate receptors positive and negative cells., Conclusions: These results encourage further in vivo studies of this nanoMOFs as candidates for tumor-targeted, sustained-release delivery of chemotherapeutic agents.