Development of novel PVA-based nanoparticles for delivery system for bone cancer applications

Abstract

Osteosarcoma is one of the most frequent bone cancers with almost 30% of patients developin metastasis [1,2]. Further study is needed to develop new drugs that avoid metastasis. There is experimental evidence that chalcones, small molecule abundant in plants, have anti- cancer activity. Unfortunately, chalcones often show poor pharmacokinetic profile and lack of specificity, which also happens with the doxorubicin (drug widely used in chemotherapy) [3]. Consequently, our purpose is to produce a drug delivery system based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) [4] nanoparticles (DDS-PVA), modified with bisphosphonates (bone tumor-seeking molecule), that can simultaneously deliver doxorubicin and chalcone (D14). We believe this chalcone will enhance the anticancer effects of doxorubicin and that DDS-PVA will improves the stability, bioavailability and specificity of doxorubicin and chalcones against osteosarcoma cells.