Anticancer drug-loaded
hydrogels are a promising strategy for the local treatment of
tumors such as
breast cancer. We hypothesize that
paclitaxel-nanoparticles-loaded double network (PTX-NPs-DN)
hydrogel can deliver PTX locally and sustainably in the
tumor resection cavity. In this study,
hydrogels loaded with PTX-NPs were prepared via self-assembly of
collagen and self-crosslinking of
polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The
hydrogel with a porous structure has a compressive modulus of 33 kPa at a strain of 40%. In this system, PTX release presented a linear release kinetic over 10 days in vitro and higher accumulating concentrations of PTX in local adipose tissue than in plasma. The biocompatibility studies show that PTX-NPs-DN
hydrogel did not induce cytotoxicity in different cell lines (MCF-7, L929s) and
hemolysis in vitro nor inflammatory response in vivo. In vivo anti-
tumor efficacy study, compared with all other groups, significantly decreased
tumor weight and improved capacity to slow down
tumor recurrences were observed in the group treated with PTX-NPs-DN
hydrogel. In conclusion, this proof-of-concept study demonstrated the feasibility, tolerability and efficiency of PTX-NPs-DN
hydrogel for the local treatment of
breast cancer.