Carrier-Free Platinum Nanomedicine for Targeted Cancer Therapy

Numerous nanomedicines have been developed to improve the efficiency and safety of conventional anticancer drugs; however, the complexities in carrier materials and functional integration make it challenging to promote these candidates for clinical translation. In this study, a facile method to prepare carrier-free anticancer nanodrug with inherent bone targeting and osteoclastogenesis inhibition capabilities is reported. Phytic acid, a naturally occurring and nontoxic product, is reacted with cisplatin to form uniform nanoparticles of different sizes. The prepared nanoparticles possess high drug loading and pH-responsive drug release behaviors. Phytic acid in the nanomedicine ensures high bone targeting and osteoclastogenesis inhibition, and the released platinum drugs triggered by tumor extracellular acidity eradicate tumor cells. The nanomedicine around 100 nm shows high anticancer activity and much reduced side effects in a subcutaneous breast cancer model when compared with cisplatin. In addition, it shows high accumulation at osteolytic lesions, and efficiently inhibits tumor growth and tumor-associated osteolysis in a bone metastatic breast cancer model. Here, a facile and efficient strategy to prepare carrier-free nanomedicines with high anticancer drug loading, inherent bone targeting, and osteoclast inhibitory activities for cancer therapy is provided.