Doxorubin (DOX) is a leading chemotherapeutic drug used to treat cancerous tumors.<sup>1</sup> In traditional chemotherapy treatment for liver cancer, DOX is administered via transarterial chemoembolizaton (TACE), a procedure where the drug is directly injected into the liver or tumor vasculature. In this procedure, about 50% of the drug remains in the tumor while the rest enters the systemic circulation and causes off-target side-effects.<sup>2</sup> This research seeks to sequester this off-target DOX with an intraarterial device, which will mitigate non-target tissue damage and enhance drug efficacy. First, we assessed the binding affinity between DOX, which is cationic at physiological pH, and a series of polymers functionalized with varying anionic moieties. Free-radical polymerization was used to synthesize aliphatic and aromatic polymers to evaluate how acid strength, ionizability, aromaticity and ring substituent contribute to DOX capture. UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to determine the decrease in DOX concentration over time as the polymers stir in solution at 37 °C. We will use these data to determine the relationship between polymer structure and drug capture efficacy. Additionally, we will determine the overall binding strength by evaluating drug leaching from the material after capture. Ultimately, these materials may be fabricated into an intraarterial device that could be employed during TACE procedures.

Probing the interactions between doxorubicin and polymers for drug capture

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ACS Fall 2022

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