Thermosensitive magnetoliposome – Novel carrier for targeted delivery and triggered release of coix seed oil

Coix seed oil (CSO) is well-known for wide anti-tumor spectra, but the low bioavailability confined its application. The aim of this study was to prepare nanoscale thermosensitive magnetoliposomes (TML) and identify its possibility to improve the antitumor efficiency of CSO. To obtain TML, polyethylene glycol modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles (PEG-Fe3O4) was prepared by a simple co-precipitation method, PEG-Fe3O4 and CSO were then embed by thermosensitive materials. The results indicated that both TML and PEG-Fe3O4 were superparamagnetic nanoparticles. TML with a phase transition temperature at around 42 °C exhibited temperature sensitive release. In addition, blank TML was nontoxic, while the inhibitory rate of TML containing CSO on HepG2 cells increased significantly when exposed to an external constant magnetic field and preheated treatment. Thus, the fabricated TML has good magnetic targeting effect and fast drug release in response to hyperthermia, which suggests their great potential of application in cancer therapy.