Folic acid-conjugated mesoporous silica particles as nanocarriers of natural prodrugs for cancer targeting and antioxidant action.

Folic acid-conjugated mesoporous silica particles as nanocarriers of natural prodrugs for cancer targeting and antioxidant action. Oncotarget. 2018 May 29;9(41):26466-26490 Authors: AbouAitah K, Swiderska-Sroda A, Farghali AA, Wojnarowicz J, Stefanek A, Gierlotka S, Opalinska A, Allayeh AK, Ciach T, Lojkowski W Abstract Naturally derived prodrugs have a wide range of pharmacological activities, including anticancer, antioxidant, and antiviral effects. However, significant barriers inhibit their use in medicine, e.g. their hydrophobicity. In this comprehensive study, we investigated simple and effective nanoformulations consisting of amine-functionalized and conjugated with folic acid (FA) mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs). Two types of MSNs were studied: KCC- 1, with mean size 324 nm and mean pore diameter 3.4 nm, and MCM - 41, with mean size 197 and pore diameter 2 nm. Both types of MSNs were loaded with three anticancer prodrugs: curcumin, quercetin, and colchicine. The nanoformulations were tested to target in vitro human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) and HeLa cancer cells. The amine-functionalized and FA-conjugated curcumin-loaded, especially KCC-1 MSNs penetrated all cells organs and steadily released curcumin. The FA-conjugated MSNs displayed higher cellular uptake, sustained intracellular release, and cytotoxicity effects in comparison to non-conjugated MSNs. The KCC-1 type MSNs carrying curcumin displayed the hi...
Source: Oncotarget - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncotarget Source Type: research