curcumin and lactobionic-acid

Curcumin is highly effective against various types of cancers; however, its low aqueous solubility, high metabolism and non-specificity hinder its efficacy. This study reports the synthesis of three lactobionic acid containing bola-amphiphiles and their investigation for curcumin nano-vesicular delivery into cancer cells. Synthesized bola-amphiphiles were capable of forming nano-vesicles and curcumin loading in a lipophilicity dependent manner. Bola-amphiphile with higher lipophilicity (C12) caused 89.55 ± 5.52% drug encapsulation in its spherical shape nano-vesicles (195.90 ± 0.83 nm). Bola-amphiphile resulting increased curcumin encapsulation with minimum vesicles size was further investigated for cellular uptake and in-vitro anticancer activity. Anticancer activity of curcumin significantly increased against the tested cancer cells upon loading in bola-amphiphile nano-vesicles. Furthermore, nano-vesicular drug delivery of curcumin enhanced its cellular uptake even at the lowest concentration of 1.25 µg/mL.It is concluded that the synthesized bola-amphiphile based nano-vesicles can efficiently deliver curcumin to the tested cancer cells and needs to be tested for established anticancer drugs against different cancer cell lines for effective treatment of cancer.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Cell Culture Techniques; Curcumin; Disaccharides; Micelles; Nanoparticles; Neoplasms

Chemotherapy has been the standard for cancer therapy, but the nonspecific cytotoxicity of chemotherapeutic agents and drug resistance of tumor cells has limited its efficacy. However, multidrug combination therapy and targeting therapy have resulted in enhanced anticancer effects and have become increasingly important strategies in clinical applications. In this study, a biotin-/lactobionic acid-modified poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol) (BLPP) copolymer was synthesized, and curcumin- and 5-fluorouracil-loaded nanoparticles (BLPPNPs/C + F) were prepared to enhance the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Blank BLPPNPs were shown to have great biocompatibility via both in vitro and in vivo studies. Good targeting of tumor cells of BLPPNPs was confirmed by flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy, and biodistribution. The synergistic anticancer effects of BLPPNPs/C + F were demonstrated by cytotoxicity and animal studies, while western blotting was used to further verify the synergistic effect of curcumin and 5-fluorouracil. The dual-targeting and drug-loaded codelivery nanosystem demonstrated higher cellular uptake and stronger cytotoxicity for tumor cells. Therefore, these dual-targeting NPs are a promising codelivery carrier that could be made available for cellular targeting of anticancer drugs to achieve better intracellular delivery and synergistic anticancer efficacy.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Biotin; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Curcumin; Disaccharides; Drug Carriers; Drug Liberation; Drug Synergism; Fluorouracil; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Liver Neoplasms; Mice; Nanoparticles; Polyethylene Glycols; Polyglactin 910; Tissue Distribution; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays