Anticancer drug-based multifunctional nanogels through self-assembly of dextran–curcumin conjugates toward cancer theranostics

[Display omitted] Curcumin (CCM) has been received much attention in cancer theranostics because CCM exhibits both anticancer activity and strong fluorescence available for bio-imaging. However, CCM has never been utilized in clinical mainly due to its extremely low water solubility and its low cellular uptake into cancer cells. We fabricated novel CCM-based biodegradable nanoparticles through self-assembly of amphiphilic dextran–CCM conjugates. Significantly high CCM loading contents in the nanoparticles and the high water solubility were achieved. Importantly, the dextran–CCMs nanoparticles were effectively delivered into HeLa cells and exhibited strong fluorescence available for live-cell imaging, although the nanoparticles were not delivered into normal cells. Thus, the dextran–CCMs nanoparticles could be a promising for creation of novel CCM-based cancer theranostics with high efficacy.