Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles conjugated with doxorubicin for targeting breast cancer

TL;DR

This study develops a multifunctional magnetic nanoparticle system conjugated with doxorubicin for targeted breast cancer therapy, demonstrating enhanced cellular uptake and cytotoxicity in vitro, combining drug delivery and hyperthermia effects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel iron oxide nanoparticle-based drug delivery system that effectively targets breast cancer cells with combined chemotherapeutic and hyperthermic actions.

Findings

Enhanced cellular uptake of DOX-NPs in breast cancer cell lines

Significant inhibition of cell growth and proliferation in vitro

Synergistic effect of drug delivery and hyperthermia observed

Abstract

Development of the next generations of cancer therapy modalities is currently a crucial requirement of oncology. Advances in nanotechnology are bringing us closer to the development of dual and multifunctional nanoparticles that are challenging the traditional distinction between diagnostic and treatment agents. The chase of innovative, multifunctional, more efficient, and safer treatments is a major challenge in preclinical nanoparticle-mediated thermotherapeutic research for breast cancer. Here, we report that iron oxide nanoparticles have the dual capacity to act as both magnetic and drug delivery agents. The aim of this work was to investigate the in vitro effect of the loading of doxorubicin (DOX) on negatively charged polycarboxylic iron-oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and Rhodamine B functionalized SPIONs on breast carcinoma cell lines. For proper analysis and understanding of cell behavior after administration of DOX-SPIONs compared with free DOX, a complex set of in vitro tests, including production of MTT assay, cell cycle determination, and cellular uptake, were utilized. In summary, we have developed a magnetic nanoparticle-based drug delivery system that sequentially delivers the cytotoxic drug doxorubicin to breast cancer cells (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231). The drug-coated nanoparticles, DOX-NPs, were assembled stepwise, with doxorubicin adsorbed to bare iron oxide nanoparticles first, by electrostatic reaction and allowed for the complexation of doxorubicin. In contrast, they were internalized to a much greater extent in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells and were cytotoxic due to the synergistic action of the two drugs and the effects of hyperthermia. The drug-coated particles were able to inhibit growth and proliferation of breast cancer cells in vitro, indicating that the system has potential to act as an antimetastatic chemothermotherapeutic agent.