Comparing organic and metallo-organic hydrazone molecular cages as potential carriers for doxorubicin delivery.

Autors de IIS La Fe

• Alba Garcia Fernandez

  Autor

• Ramón Martínez Máñez

  Autor

Autors aliens a IIS La Fe

• Monta-Gonzalez, Giovanni
• Bastante-Rodriguez, David
• Lusby, Paul J.
• Marti-Centelles, Vicente

Grups d'Investigació

• Unidad Mixta de Investigación en Nanomedicina y Sensores

  Leader

  Ramón Martínez Máñez

Abstract

Molecular cages are three-dimensional supramolecular structures that completely wrap guest molecules by encapsulation. We describe a rare comparative study between a metallo-organic cage and a fully organic analogous system, obtained by hydrazone bond formation self-assembly. Both cages are able to encapsulate the anticancer drug doxorubicin, with the organic cage forming a 1 : 1 inclusion complex with µM affinity, whereas the metallo-organic host experiences disassembly by interaction with the drug. Stability experiments reveal that the ligands of the metallo-organic cage are displaced in buffer at neutral, acidic, and basic pH, while the organic cage only disassembles under acidic conditions. Notably, the organic cage also shows minimal cell toxicity, even at high doses, whilst the doxorubicin-cage complex shows in vitro anti-cancer activity. Collectively, these results show that the attributes of the pure organic molecular cage are suitable for the future challenges of in vivo drug delivery using molecular cages.

This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.