BaCarb™: anovel bioinorganic matrix for local drug delivery

Background Treatment of localized tumor by chemotherapy is mostly used as an adjuvant to surgery to protect against or delay the progression of disseminated metastatic diseases or for treatment when other local therapies, such as surgery are not feasible. Local drug delivery offers high potential as a therapeutic choice against premature oncological stages or with isolated cancers since it is more effective in reducing cancer recurrences and avoiding the undesirable side effects of drug spreading along the body [1]. Several applications of the bacterial cellulose in the biomedical field were proposed, like wound healing membranes based on the similarities to the human skin, artificial blood vessels, and as replacement of cornea, valve prosthesis, urethra, cartilage, etc. Also, the use of cellulose membranes has been postulated for drug delivery of hormones and proteins and it was recently fully reviewed [2,3]. Doxorubicin hydrochloride (dox) is commonly used in the treatment of many solid tumors, such as breast, lung, stomach or ovarian cancer and sarcoma [4]. In the present work, we develop a bacterial cellulose membrane for encapsulation of Doxorubicin and containing l-Carr and CaCO3 as a potential implant device for local treatment of solid tumors. The in vitro Dox release kinetics from the matrices was studied at different pH values and also in different matrices.