Dendritic polyethylene glycol-modified folate–nickel nanotubes as an efficient antitumor nano-metal medicine

Metal-containing nanomaterials have attracted substantial research efforts due to their rich compositional and structural diversity as well as the broad possible applications. However, the most metal-containing nanomaterials are normally only used as new delivery vehicles in the field of biomedicine but do not possess biological activity by itself. Herein, we modified dendritic polyethylene glycol on one folate–nickel nanotube to fabricate a new-type of metal-containing nanotube PEG-FA-Ni NTs. We found PEG-FA-Ni NTs have exhibited excellent in vitro and in vivo antitumor activity comparable to the positive drugs doxorubicin and cisplatin. Meanwhile, this study indicates that the PEG-FA-Ni NTs may achieve more optimal antitumor effects by damaging DNA, blocking cell cycle, and ultimately inducing apoptosis. All the results showed that PEG-FA-Ni NTs could be a potent nanomedicine for the further development and application on cancer therapy.