Design and development of folate-chitosan/CD nanogel: An efficient fluorescent platform for Cancer-specific delivery of AntimiR-21

Advances in the field of simultaneous diagnosis and treatment of cancer have introduced “nanotheranostic” systems that enable targeted co-delivery of imaging probes and therapeutic compounds. In this study, a simply designed fluorescent construction has been developed as a novel antimiR-21 nanocarrier for targeted imaging of SKOV3 cells. Fluorescent green carbon dots (CD) were synthesized from grapefruit extract through hydrothermal reaction. Folic acid-chitosan (FA-CS) conjugate was prepared according to the covalent chemistry for simultaneous loading of CD and antimiR-21 sequence in order to design FA-CS(CD/antimiR-21) nanoparticles. The FA-CS(CD/antimiR-21) nanoparticles showed uniform size distribution of 104.9 ± 30.68 nm. Nanoparticles with negligible toxicity and good serum stability transferred antimiR-21 sequence to cancer cells with 80–90% entrapment efficiency. In vitro cellular imaging and distribution studies were investigated by fluorescence microscopy that revealed higher cellular uptake of FA-CS(CD/antimiR-21) hybrid nanogel by SKOV3 ovarian cancer cells, which highly express folate receptors compared to fibroblast folate negative (FR−) (NIH3T3) cell lines. Ultimately, this investigation demonstrates that CD-loaded FA-CS nanogels provide a unique construction for cancer-specific fluorescent imaging capable of loading therapeutic agents. [Display omitted] •Fluorescent green CDs from grapefruit juice were prepared through hydrothermal method.•Novel single platform for co-delivery of green CDs and antimiR-21 was established using gelation method of chitosan polymer.•FA-CS (CD/antimiR-21) NPs show excellent size and surface charge as a practical gene delivery system to cancer cell.•The NPs with low toxicity show proper targeted-imaging of SKOV3 cancer cells.