A novel amphiphilic copolymer (gamma-PGA-co-PLA-DPPE) containing poly(gamma-glutamic acid) (gamma-PGA), polylactide (PLA), and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DPPE) segments has been successfully synthesized. The chemical structures of the copolymers were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), NMR (H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, P-31 NMR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). In order to estimate the feasibility as novel drug carriers, an anti-tumor model drug, doxorubicin hydrochloride salt (DOX) was encapsulated into the copolymers nanoparticles (NPs) by double emulsion and nanoprecipitation methods. The influence of processing factors on encapsulation efficiency and particle size using double emulsion and nanoprecipitation technique were studied. In addition, the DOX-loaded NPs exhibited pH-dependent drug release profiles in vitro. The cumulative release of DOX-loaded NPs was much faster at pH 5.0 than that at pH 7.4. In vitro cytotoxicity test of DOX-loaded NPs against Hela and C666-1 cells demonstrated that DOX-loaded NPs exhibited effectively time-delayed cytotoxicity. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) showed that DOX-loaded NPs accumulated mostly in lysosomes instead of cell nucleus, in contrast to free DOX. Therefore, the copolymer nanoparticles were proved to be an available carrier for anti-tumor drug delivery. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.