Hyaluronic acid-modified yeast β-glucan particles delivering doxorubicin for treatment of breast cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most threatening cancers that poses a great risk to women's health. The anti-tumor drug doxorubicin (DOX) is one of commonly used drugs in the treatment of breast cancer. However, the cytotoxicity of DOX has always been an urgent challenge to be solved. In this study, we report an alternative drug delivery system delivering DOX for reducing its physiological toxicity by using the yeast β-glucan particle (YGP) with a hollow and porous vesicle structure. Briefly, amino groups were grafted onto the surface of YGP with the silane coupling agent, then the oxidized hyaluronic acid (OHA) was attached by Schiff base reaction to get HA-modified YGP (YGP@N=C-HA), finally DOX was encapsulated into YGP@N=C-HA to get DOX-loaded YGP@N=C-HA (YGP@N=C-HA/DOX). In vitro release experiments exhibited the pH-responsive DOX release from YGP@N=C-HA/DOX. Cell experiments displayed that YGP@N=C-HA/DOX had good killing effect on both MCF-7 and 4T1 cells and could be internalized into these cells through CD44 receptors, showing targetability to cancer cells. Furthermore, YGP@N=C-HA/DOX could effectively inhibit tumor growth and reduce the physiological toxicity of DOX. Thus, the YGP-based vesicle provides an alternative strategy for lowering the physiological toxicity of DOX in the medical treatment of breast cancer.