A dual-drug delivery hydrogel platform based on hollow calcium carbonate nanoparticles for enhanced multimodal tumor therapy

Wei, Haoyu, Wang, Hongdi, Gong, Yi, Yao, Haoge, Qi, Qiang, Wang, Ting, Li, Weibo, Li, Jin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4672-6806, Zhao, Xiaofeng and Zhou, Jian 2026. A dual-drug delivery hydrogel platform based on hollow calcium carbonate nanoparticles for enhanced multimodal tumor therapy. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 703 (Part 1) , 139110. 10.1016/j.jcis.2025.139110 Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Multimodal cancer therapies that integrate gas and photodynamic approaches hold significant promise but are often limited by low drug loading rates, short treatment durations, and suboptimal overall therapeutic efficacy. In this study, we developed hollow calcium carbonate nanoparticles via a one-pot gas-diffusion approach, employing rational selection and concentration tuning of amino acid additives to regulate particle formation. Notably, by utilizing L-arginine as a regulating agent, we produced nanoparticles with a significant specific surface area of 197.96 m2/g. Subsequent PEGylated/liposomal surface modification endowed the nanoparticles with excellent biocompatibility and an impressive drug loading capacity of up to 28.8 % and 26.9 % for the nitric oxide donor L-arginine and the photosensitizer indocyanine green (ICG), respectively. The resulting drug-loaded hollow amorphous calcium carbonate nanoparticles (PCAI NPs) have shown effective synergistic treatment against tumors through multimodal therapy methods, including photodynamic therapy, nitric oxide gas therapy, photothermal therapy, and calcium overload-induced cytotoxicity. Furthermore, PCAI NPs were encapsulated in an injectable thermo-responsive hydrogel system composed of Pluronic F-127 and hyaluronic acid, creating a nano drug delivery system that enables sustained, prolonged, and localized drug release. This work presents a high-loading, multifunctional nanoplatform for enhanced and prolonged multimodal cancer therapy.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Engineering
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1095-7103
Funders:	National Natural Science Foundation of China
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	26 September 2025
Date of Acceptance:	23 September 2025
Last Modified:	26 Nov 2025 09:33
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181349

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