Multicomponent Nanocomposites for Complex Anticancer Therapy: Effect of Aggregation Processes on Their Efficacy

Multicomponent nanocomposites for anticancer therapy were prepared, characterized, and tested for their antitumor efficacy. The water-soluble star-like dextran-graft-polyacrylamide copolymer was used as a nanoplatform for the creation of polymer-based multicomponent drug delivery systems for photodynamic and combined (photodynamic+chemotherapy) antitumor therapy. The three-component nanocomposites with incorporated gold nanoparticles and photosensitizer and the four-component ones additionally loaded by Doxorubicin into polymer nanoplatform were studied at 25 and 37°C by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. Nanocomposites were tested for their photodynamic cytotoxicity for the cell line of breast cancer MCF-7/S. Three-component nanocomposites demonstrated higher efficacy than the four-component ones. The decrease in the activity of the four-component systems is explained by the aggregation process caused by the introduction of an additional component, which leads to a decrease in the hydrophilic-hydrophobic balance of the polymer macromolecule.