Fig. 6
Calcium-based nanocarriers for bone-related anticancer agent delivery. a, b The Zoledronate, as a bisphosphate drug, formed calcium-based nanomaterials as Zol-NP to treat bone cancer. The Zol-NP showed retained Zol release and increased cytotoxicity to tumour cells and macrophages. Compared with free Zol, the Zol-NP showed significantly decreased Zol accumulation in bones, increased Zol accumulation in tumour and tumour inhibition.151 (c) The nHA (nano size) and mHA (micro size) were formed by loading doxorubicin (DOX) to hydroxyapatite to treat tumour. The locally delivery of DOX by HA showed improved anticancer efficacy comparing with intravenous injection of DOX. The released DOX from nHA through endocytosis by lysosome and unreleased DOX were delivered to mitochondria and resulted in insufficient ATP synthesis, less cell migration and more apoptosis. The released DOX from mHA extracellularly was up-taken in nucleus and caused more DNA damage and cell apoptosis.154 (Reprinted with copyright permissions)
