Development of cargo carrier systems targeted for direct application in breast cancer treatment

Breast cancer ranks among the most common types of cancer worldwide in women. Notably, the impairment of wound healing due to post-surgical adjuvant therapy, and the recurrence of cancer owing to the presence of residual cancer cells, substantially compromise patient quality of life. Nanoparticular drug delivery systems are pivotal in surmounting the limitations inherent in conventional chemotherapy, substantially enhancing therapeutic effectiveness. Despite their numerous advantages, the limitations posed by systemic administration can curtail the efficacy of anticancer agents in various applications. Specifically, in local anticancer treatments, the rapid elimination of therapeutic agents from the target site complicates the achievement of desired sustained release profiles. In this context, hydrogel-based drug delivery systems emerge as a prominent solution, prolonging the residence time of the active agent at the target site, diminishing systemic side effects, and enabling a multifaceted treatment approach. This study thus leverages the synergistic combination of nanoparticle and hydrogel formulations to amplify drug efficacy and improve the efficiency of local treatment modalities. Polyethylene glycol-block-polycaprolactone (PEG-b-PCL) nanoparticles, encapsulating the chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin, were developed for targeted treatment of residual triple-negative breast cancer. These nanoparticles were dispersed within a hydrogel formulation, computationally designed to incorporate carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), polyethylene oxide (PEO), and hyaluronic acid (HA), with the aim of investigating the in vitro and in vivo efficacies of these formulations. Consequently, a formulation has been developed that not only exhibits high anticancer efficacy but also possesses wound-healing properties, making it well-suited for local application post-surgery.