Table 1 Calculated IC50 of 5-FU and 5-FU-loaded NPs against different cell lines based on MTT cell viability curves

5-FU

46.1 ± 4.7

41.9 ± 1.5

12.0 ± 2.2

6.5 ± 0.3

5.2 ± 0.7

SPION-PEG-PCL-PEG-FA

62.6 ± 3.8

69.1 ± 2.3

69.4 ± 3.8

55.4 ± 1.4

71.4 ± 1.8

5-FU-SPION-PEG-PCL-PEG-FA

5.1 ± 0.88

4.8 ± 0.7

3.9 ± 0.4

3.2 ± 0.2

3.8 ± 0.1

IC50 (5-FU)/ IC50 (5-FU-SPION-PEG-PCL-PEG-FA)

9.04

8.72

3.07

2.03

1.37