A facile combined therapy of chemotherapeutic agent and microRNA for hepatocellular carcinoma using non-cationic nanogel†

High drug resistance remains a challenge for chemotherapy against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Combining chemotherapeutic agents with microRNA (miRNA), which simultaneously regulates multiple pathways, offers a promising approach to improve therapeutic efficacy against HCC. Although cationic amphiphilic copolymers have been used to co-deliver these agents, their effectiveness is often limited by low co-encapsulation efficiency and inherent cationic toxicity. In this study, we developed a facile approach to co-deliver doxorubicin (DOX) and miRNA-26a (miR-26a) using a non-cationic nanogel. The incorporation of an amphiphilic monomer and a lysosomal enzyme-sensitive crosslinker endows the nanomedicine with several advantages, including high co-encapsulation efficiency, lysosomal escape, and minimal toxicity. miR-26a significantly increased the sensitivity of HCC to DOX by 3.35-fold through targeting multiple pathways, and promoted DOX penetration within tumor tissue through reducing type I collagen content, thereby showing significant synergistic anticancer effects. This study provides a facile and biosafe nanoplatform for the efficient co-delivery of DOX and miRNA with synergistic drug effect.