Apoptosis-induced treatment for ovarian cancer from self-assembled nanocomposites of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and porous organic cages

Ovarian cancer is one of the most common tumors in gynecology and imposes a heavy burden on patients and their families. Fe3O4 nanoparticles are one of the few nanomaterials approved by the FDA for clinical use, which has been widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of tumor. The aqueous colloids made from hydrophobic building blocks were fabricated through an oil-in-water emulsion confined assembly strategy. In vitro, the proliferation, migration, invasion of SKOV3 cell after the treatment of iron oxide based assemblies were detected using Test-EdU assay and wound-healing assay. The ovarian cancer of the Nude Mice model was used to investigate the anti-cancer effect of Fe3O4 assemblies and Fe3O4-CC3 co-assemblies in vivo. The applied nanocomposites inhibited ovarian cancer cells by CytC/caspase-3 pathway. The results in vivo revealed that treatment of nanocomposites significantly restrained the growth of subcutaneous transplantation tumor in Ovarian Cancer of the Nude Mice model. Our study demonstrated that colloidal nanocomposites assembled from Fe3O4 nanoparticles and porous organic cages inhibits cancer progression and induces apoptosis via caspase pathway. The effect of Fe3O4-CC3 co-assemblies is more profound due to their better contact with the biological matter.