A supramolecular hydrogelator of curcumin

摘要

Here we report on the first supramolecular hydrogelator of curcumin and the evaluation of its inhibition capacity towards cancer cells and tumor growth. Supramolecular hydrogels of therapeutic agents have recently attracted extensive research interest as drug delivery carriers because of their several advantages, such as the high and controllable drug loading, sustained and responsive drug release properties, and good biocompatibility. Supramolecular hydrogels are formed by hydrogelators via non-covalent interactions. Up to now, several kinds of therapeutic agents including anti-cancer, anti-bacteria, and anti-inflammatory drugs have been converted into hydrogelators through conjugation with small molecules, especially peptides. The resulting hydrogels can be used directly as injectable hydrogels for the topical treatment or after dilution as nanofiber dispersions by intravenous injection, and they have shown constant release of therapeutic agents and excellent inhibition capacity towards cancer cells and bacteria. For their application in cancer therapy, anti-cancer drugs taxol and camptothecin have been converted into hydrogelators by several groups. In order to expand the scope of hydrogelators of anti-cancer drugs and develop more of these hydrogels for combinatory therapy, there is a need to develop hydrogelators of other anti-cancer drugs. In this study, we report on the first supramolecular hydrogelator of the anti-cancer drug curcumin (Cur).