Aspirin Repurposing in Folate-Decorated Nanoparticles: Another Way to Target Breast Cancer

Fariha Kanwal; Mingming Ma; Muhammad Fayyaz Ur Rehman; Fahim-Ullah Khan; Shai E Elizur; Aima Iram Batool; Chi Chiu Wang; Tahira Tabassum; Changrui Lu; Yao Wang

doi:10.3389/fmolb.2021.788279

Aspirin Repurposing in Folate-Decorated Nanoparticles: Another Way to Target Breast Cancer

Front Mol Biosci. 2022 Jan 28:8:788279. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.788279. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Biomedical Engineering, Med-X Research Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Ocular Fundus Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Eye Diseases, Shanghai Engineering Center for Visual Science and Photomedicine, Shanghai Engineering Center for Precise Diagnosis and Treatment of Eye Diseases, Shanghai, China.
³ Institute of Chemistry, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Biotechnology, University of Science and Technology, Bannu, Pakistan.
⁵ IVF Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
⁶ Department of Zoology, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan.
⁷ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.
⁸ Department of Pathology, Sargodha Medical College, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai, China.
¹⁰ Department of Assisted Reproduction, School of Medicine, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Breast cancer affects more than 1 million women per year worldwide. Through this study, we developed a nanoparticle-based drug delivery system to target breast cancer cells. Aspirin has been found to inhibit thromboembolic diseases with its tumor-preventing activity. As a consequence, it relieves disease symptoms and severity. Here, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MNPs) have been used to deliver aspirin to the tumor location. MNP-based aspirin in folic acid (F)-conjugated polydopamine (MNP-Asp-PD-PG-F) vehicles are prepared for targeted breast cancer therapy. The vehicle hinges on MNP altered with polymer polyethylene glycol (PG), polydopamine (PD), and F. The delivery vehicle was studied for in vitro drug release, cytotoxicity, and breast cancer cell proliferation. F-conjugated drug delivery vehicles let MNPs achieve an elevated targeting efficacy, ideal for cancer therapy. It was also observed that compared to free aspirin, our drug delivery system (MNP-Asp-PD-PG-F) has a higher cytotoxic and antiproliferative effect on breast cancer cells. The drug delivery system can be proposed as a targeted breast cancer therapy that could be further focused on other targeted cancer therapies. Delivering aspirin by the PD-PG-F system on the tumor sites promises a therapeutic potential for breast cancer treatment.

Keywords: aspirin; breast cancer; mesoporous silica; nanomedicine; nanoparticle.