A porous Cu(II)-based metal-organic framework carrier for pH-controlled anticancer drug delivery

A new metal-organic framework with suitable channel size and good stability in biological buffer solution was investigated to load 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) though a simple adsorption process. The successful loading of 5-Fu was confirmed by the gas sorption measurement and the loading capacity was characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, which reveal a drug loading of 37.22%. The drug delivery in the simulated cancerous tissues (pH = 5.8 and 6.8) exhibited a more progressive release in comparison with that in the normal tissues (pH = 7.4), demonstrating a physiological pH-responsive drug release. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the MTT assay, this drug/MOF composite shows low cytotoxicity, good biocompatibility, and anticancer activity against cell lines A549 and HeLa. The result shows that 1 could be taken as a potential drug carrier.