Current anticancer
research shows that a combination of multiple
treatment methods can greatly improve the killing of tumor cells.
Using the latest microfluidic swirl mixer technology, combined with
chemotherapy and photothermal-ablation therapy, we developed multiresponsive
targeted antitumor nanoparticles (NPs) made of folate-functionalized
gelatin NPs under 200 nm in size and with encapsulated CuS NPs, Fe3O4NPs, and curcumin (Cur). By exploring gelatin’s
structure, adjusting its concentration and pH, and fine-tuning the
fluid dynamics in the microfluidic device, the best preparation conditions
were obtained for gelatin NPs with an average particle size of 90
± 7 nm. The comparative targeting of the drug delivery system
(DDS) was demonstrated on lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells (low level
of folate receptors) and breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells (high level
of folate receptors). Folic acid helps achieve targeting and accurate
delivery of NPs to the MCF-7 tumor cells. The synergistic photothermal
ablation and curcumin’s anticancer activity are achieved through
infrared light irradiation (980 nm), while Fe3O4is guided with an external magnetic field to target gelatin NPs
and accelerate the uptake of drugs, thus efficiently killing tumor
cells. The method described in this work is simple, easy to repeat,
and has great potential to be scaled up for industrial production
and subsequent clinical use.