Design and synthesis of polymer particles containing Curcumin on hTERT gene expression in the lung breast cell line (MCF-7)

Background: Curcumin has attracted great attention in the therapeutic arsenal in clinical oncology due to its chemopreventive, antitumoral, radiosensibilizing and chemosensibilizing activities against various types of aggressive and recurrent cancers. However, short half-life and weak bioavailability of Cur limited its use as a chemotherapeutic agent. The present study is intended to evaluate the efficiency of PLGA-PEG as a nano-carrier for Cur to increase anticancer effects on MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells. The objective of the current work was to assess the anticancer effects of Cur loaded PLGA-PEG nanoparticles (Cur- NPs) via downregulation of hTERT against MCF-7 cells.Methods: Cur loaded PLGA-PEG nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized by SEM and FTIR. Cytotoxic assays were evaluated in MCF-7 cells treated with the MTT assay. Also, real-time polymerase chain reaction (Real-Time PCR) was used to determine the gene expression levels of hTERT.Results: The spherical shapes of the Cur-NPs with an average diameter size around 190.12nm and a zeta potential value of −17mV were characterized using DLS, and confirmed through FE-SEM. In vitro cytotoxicity assay using MTT revealed that the Cur and Cur-NPs exhibited a dose- and time- dependent cytotoxic effect against MCF-7 cells (P < 0.05). qPCR findings revealed that the Cur-NPs also doown-regulated the expression levels of hTERT at all used concentrations compared with the drugs used alone after 48 h treatment (P ≤ 0.05)Conclusions: In conclusion, it is suggested that nano-encapsulation of Cur into polymeric PLGA-PEG NPs may be an efficient strategy to enhance its anticancer effects for breast cancer therapy.

کلیدواژه ها:

Curcumin ، Breast cancer ، Nanotechnology ، Nanoparticle ، hTERT