Many
biomaterials are made and studied to provide anticancer
therapy, and many other
biomaterials have been developed to assist body tissue regeneration. It has been a challenge to design and produce effective multifunctional, or bifunctional,
biomaterials for clinical applications to prevent
cancer recurrence and, at the same time, to promote new tissue formation after surgical removal of the
tumor for millions of
cancer patients. In this study, bifunctional UV and Sr2+ double-crosslinked
alginate (ALG)/allylated
gelatin (GelAGE)
hydrogels incorporated with
polydopamine (PDA) particles were designed and made. Furthermore,
doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX), an anticancer drug, was incorporated in PDA particles. It was aimed for the new ALG/GelAGE-PDA@DOX
hydrogels to exhibit anticancer synergy and hence provide combined
chemotherapy and
phototherapy (PTT) for bone
tumor cell ablation. In vitro experiments using MG63
osteosarcoma cells showed that ALG/GelAGE-PDA@DOX
hydrogels could effectively kill
tumor cells through the synergy of controlled DOX release and
hyperthermia ablation. It was also aimed for the new
hydrogels to facilitate bone tissue regeneration at the original bone
tumor site. The results of in vitro experiments demonstrated that owing to the release of Sr2+, the new
hydrogels could promote the proliferation of rat bone mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) and also the
alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of cells, indicating their osteogenic promotion ability. The ALG/GelAGE-PDA@DOX
hydrogels have therefore exhibited great potential for the treatment of bone
tumor-related defects.