Collagen-decorated drug-loaded polycaprolactone microspheres for breast cancer therapy in vitro and in vivo model.

Abstract

Developing an efficient and stable targeted drug delivery system is a crucial approach for improving breast cancer treatment outcomes. In this study, we fabricated collagen decorated drug-loaded polycaprolactone (PCL) microspheres and achieved highly efficient therapy for breast cancer both in vivo and in vitro. The microspheres were first synthesized by loading doxorubicin (DOX) with PCL microspheres and modifying the surface with bovine Achilles tendon collagen (BATC). The prepared microspheres (BATC-DOX-PCL) exhibited a good encapsulation efficiency for DOX (63.7 %), along with a high drug release efficiency (79.3 %) in weak acidic environments. Targeting analysis revealed that the BATC surface modification significantly enhanced the ability of microspheres to specifically bind MCF-7 breast cancer cells. In vitro antitumor evaluation confirmed that BATC-DOX-PCL microspheres have superior cytotoxicity and cell migration inhibition against MCF-7 cells compared to free DOX. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of free DOX, BATC-DOX-PCL microspheres were 5.60 and 3.53 μg/mL, respectively. In vivo studies demonstrated that BATC-DOX-PCL microspheres exhibited a more significant antitumor effect than free DOX, and decreased the toxicity of the drug to normal organs. The overall data indicated that the BATC-DOX-PCL microspheres hold great potential for the therapy of breast cancer.