Lutein-loaded chitosan/alginate-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles as effective targeted carriers for breast cancer treatment

Bryan Paul Bulatao; Nonthaneth Nalinratana; Pongsakorn Jantaratana; Opa Vajragupta; Pranee Rojsitthisak; Pornchai Rojsitthisak

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124673

Lutein-loaded chitosan/alginate-coated Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles as effective targeted carriers for breast cancer treatment

Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Jul 1;242(Pt 1):124673. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124673. Epub 2023 May 1.

Authors

Bryan Paul Bulatao¹, Nonthaneth Nalinratana², Pongsakorn Jantaratana³, Opa Vajragupta⁴, Pranee Rojsitthisak⁵, Pornchai Rojsitthisak⁶

Affiliations

¹ Center of Excellence in Natural Products for Ageing and Chronic Diseases, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand; Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology Program, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Electronic address: bibulatao@up.edu.ph.
² Center of Excellence in Natural Products for Ageing and Chronic Diseases, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand; Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Electronic address: nonthaneth.n@chula.ac.th.
³ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand. Electronic address: fscipsj@ku.ac.th.
⁴ Center of Excellence in Natural Products for Ageing and Chronic Diseases, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand; Molecular Probes for Imaging Research Network, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Electronic address: opa.v@chula.ac.th.
⁵ Center of Excellence in Natural Products for Ageing and Chronic Diseases, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand; Metallurgy and Materials Science Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Electronic address: pranee.l@chula.ac.th.
⁶ Center of Excellence in Natural Products for Ageing and Chronic Diseases, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand; Department of Food and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Electronic address: pornchai.r@chula.ac.th.

PMID: 37137353
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124673

Abstract

Magnetic drug targeting can be a strategy for effectively delivering phytochemicals in cancer treatment. Here, we demonstrate the benefit of magnetic targeting with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for cytotoxicity enhancement of lutein (LUT) against breast cancer cells. Fabrication of LUT-loaded chitosan/alginate iron oxide nanoparticles (LUT-CS/Alg-Fe₃O₄-NPs) was optimized by a statistical approach using response surface methodology based on the Box-Behnken design. The optimized LUT-CS/Alg-Fe₃O₄-NPs with a balance among LUT concentration, copolymer coating, and iron ion concentration exhibited controlled size, narrow size distribution, better crystallinity, excellent saturation magnetization, and sustained-release profile. The negligible magnetic coercivity and remanent magnetization confirmed the superparamagnetism of the prepared NPs. The optimized LUT-CS/Alg-Fe₃O₄-NPs were biocompatible while exhibiting a significantly enhanced cytotoxicity towards breast cancer MCF-7 cells upon exposure to a permanent magnet compared to free LUT with a 4-fold increase, suggesting the potential of LUT-CS/Alg-Fe₃O₄-NPs as magnetically targeted delivery for breast cancer.

Keywords: Alginate; Box-Behnken design; Breast cancer; Chitosan; Lutein; Magnetic nanoparticles.

MeSH terms

Alginates
Breast Neoplasms* / drug therapy
Chitosan*
Female
Humans
Lutein
Nanoparticles*

Substances

Alginates
Lutein
Chitosan