Standard clinical care for breast cancer includes lumpectomy followed by localized radiotherapy or chemotherapy. However, both therapies cause loss of normal, healthy tissue in addition to tumor tissue, leading to undesirable side effects. In this study, we found that low dose and prolonged treatment with anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) can completely eliminate MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells with low cytotoxicity to NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. We further developed a novel biomaterial-based drug delivery system for controlled and sustained release of low doses of DOX based on self-assembled dextran sulfate (DS)-DOX complexes. We found that adding divalent metal ions in the complex can improve the entrapment efficiency of DOX and prolong DOX release. We encapsulated the DS-DOX complexes into biocompatible, biodegradable, and injectable agarose hydrogel. The hydrogel can be injected into the cavity after lumpectomy for sustained local delivery of low-dose DOX. Cell viability experiments confirmed that this drug delivery system completely eliminated MDA-MB-231 cancer cells while maintaining the viability of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts at the end of treatment. Thus, this novel drug delivery system represents a promising approach for local chemotherapy to improve locoregional control of breast cancer.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
6
12%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
6
12%
Engineering
5
10%
Chemistry
4
8%
Medicine and Dentistry
2
4%
Other
6
12%
Unknown
21
42%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 24 February 2026.
All research outputs
#7,447,794
of 34,411,289 outputs
Outputs from Materials Science & Engineering: C
#479
of 4,109 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#94,469
of 353,260 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Materials Science & Engineering: C
#19
of 249 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,411,289 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 78th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,109 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.2. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 353,260 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 72% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 249 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 91% of its contemporaries.
