(162m) Multifunctional Poly(vinyl alcohol) Nanocomposite Hydrogel Beads for Transarterial Chemoembolization

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is widely used as a palliative treatment for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and those who developed tumor recurrence after resection. However, current drug delivery formulations suffer from a lack of detectability, targetability, and/or degradability. This study aims at the development and assessment of a delivery platform with multiple functionalities. A potential application focus is in the use TACE for HCC treatment. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) microbeads containing iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) were fabricated using microfluidics. The resultant beads developed a tear-drop shape with an equivalent spherical diameter of 95 ± 22 μm, which would make them desirable as embolic agents. PVA-IONPs microbeads exhibited dense and porous polymer network with IONPs (D=11 ± 2 nm) distributed throughout the polymeric matrix. These beads possessed superparamagnetic property and provided contrast enhancement to T₂ weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images, which opens up the opportunities for image-guided targeted drug delivery. An anti-tumor drug Doxorubicin was successfully incorporated in the beads (79.7 mg/g loading), and its release was studied in phosphate-buffered saline at varying pH at 37 °C. These microbeads provided a cumulative release of 21% over 35 days. Besides, a preliminary degradation study was performed in cell culture medium under simulated physiological and tumorous environments. Experimental results revealed that the degradation was governed by dissolution of IONPs and disintegration of polymeric network. Taken together, PVA-IONP microbeads with multiple integrated functions based on nanoscale components would be a promising approach for TACE.