In situ fast gelling modified polyvinyl alcohol/polyethylene glycol hybrid hydrogels incorporating doxorubicin-loaded chitosan/AuNPs nanogels for localized treatment of breast cancer.

Integrating in situ gelling hydrogels with nanoparticles can improve therapeutic efficacy in localized breast cancer treatment. In this research, the novel in situ gelling hydrogels based on thiolated polyvinyl alcohol/polyethylene glycol diacrylate (TPVA/PEGDA) embedded with doxorubicin (DOX) loaded chitosan/gold nanoparticles (CS/AuNPs) nanogels were developed via thiol-ene reaction in the absence of any additives at room temperature within several seconds. The physico/chemical properties of the hydrogels and NPs were investigated via FT-IR, UV-vis, XRD, SEM, and DLS. Also, the in vitro swelling/degradation behavior, rheological study, cell viability assay, and porosity determination were evaluated. The DOX release rate for drug-containing hydrogels without/with CS/AuNPs was 64 % and 36 % at pH = 5.8, respectively, where it was 46 % and 34 % at pH = 7.4, which revealed the more sustained release of DOX in the case of DOX-loaded CS/AuNPs nanogel usage. The MTT assay indicated that the synthesized hydrogels containing CS/AuNPs nanogel are compatible with both MCF-7 and HUVEC cells. However, MCF-7 cells were effectively destroyed by free DOX and DOX-loaded hydrogels in comparison to normal HUVEC cells. Overall, it can be concluded that the obtained results demonstrated the significant potential of the novel DOX/CSAuNPs-loaded hydrogel system for a targeted/localized chemotherapy of breast cancer.