Keratin is a promising material for building drug carriers due to their biocompatibility, reduction sensitivity, and biodegradability. Herein, we aim to develop acid and glutathione (GSH) dual-responsive keratin-based drug carriers with a one-step strategy. Keratin/DOX complexes were first prepared by means of a simple mixing approach, followed by desolvation and crosslinking to prepare keratin-based drug loaded nanoparticles (KDNPs). The as-prepared KDNPs showed negative-charged surface and globular morphology with the diameter of ca. 129 nm. The drug-loading rate was as high as 14% as a result of electrostatic attraction. Drug delivery profile showed that KDNPs performed pH and GSH dual responsiveness as well as charge reversibility in the simulated tumor microenvironment. MTT assay demonstrated that KDNPs exhibited enhanced inhibitory efficiency against A549 cells. Moreover, CLSM observation suggested that these KDNPs were internalized through endocytosis pathway. All of these results demonstrated that keratin based drug carriers had potential of tumor therapy.
Keywords: Keratin; doxorubicin; drug delivery systems; stimuli-sensitive drug delivery.