Synthesis and Characterization of Inhalable Flavonoid Nanoparticle for Lung Cancer Cell Targeting
Current cancer treatments are not adequate to cure cancer disease, as most chemotherapeutic drugs do not differentiate between cancerous and non-cancerous cells; which lead to systemic toxicity and adverse effects. We have developed a promising approach to deliver a potential anti-cancer
compound (curcumin) for lung cancer treatment through pulmonary delivery. Three different sizes of curcumin micellar nanoparticles (Cur-NPs) were fabricated and their cytotoxicity effects (proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle progression) were evaluated against non-small-cell lung cancer,
human lung carcinoma (A549) and human lung adenocarcinoma (Calu-3). The in vitro cytotoxicity assay showed that Cur-NPs were more effective to kill lung cancer cells compared to DMSO-solubilised raw curcumin. The potency of the anti-cancer killing activities was size-dependent. Both
raw curcumin and Cur-NPs were not toxic to healthy lung cells (BEAS-2B). Smaller Cur-NPs accumulated within nucleus, membrane and cytoplasm. Cur-NPs also induced apoptosis and caused G2/M arrest in both A549 and Calu-3 cell lines. Compared to raw curcumin, Cur-NPs were more effective in suppressing
the expression of the inflammatory marker, Interleukin-8 (IL8). The aerosol performance of Cur-NPs was characterized using the next generation impactor (NGI). All Cur-NPs showed promising aerosolization property with mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) and geometric standard deviation
(GSD) ranging between 4.8–5.2 and 2.0–2.1, respectively. This study suggests that inhaled curcumin nanoparticles could potentially be used for lung cancer treatment with minimal side effects.
Keywords: APOPTOSIS; CELL CYCLE; CELLULAR UPTAKE; CURCUMIN PARTICLES; INHALATION; LUNG CANCER
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 February 2016
- Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology (JBN) is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary journal providing broad coverage in all research areas focused on the applications of nanotechnology in medicine, drug delivery systems, infectious disease, biomedical sciences, biotechnology, and all other related fields of life sciences.
- Editorial Board
- Information for Authors
- Subscribe to this Title
- Terms & Conditions
- Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content