Engineered hyaluronic acid-decorated niosomal nanoparticles for controlled and targeted delivery of epirubicin to treat breast cancer

Engineered hyaluronic acid-decorated niosomal nanoparticles for controlled and targeted delivery of epirubicin to treat breast cancer

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Targeted drug delivery systems using nanocarriers offer a versatile platform for breast cancer treatment; however, a robust, CD44-targeted niosomal formulation has not been developed and deeply studied (both in vitro and in vivo) yet.Here, an optimized system of epirubicin (Epi)-loaded niosomal nanoparticles (Nio) coated with hyaluronic acid (HA) has been engineered for targeting breast cancer cells.The nanoformulation click here was first optimized (based on size, polydispersity index, and entrapment efficiency); then, we characterized the morphology, stability, and release behavior of the nanoparticles.Epirubicin release from the HA-coated system (Epi-Nio-HA) showed a 21% (acidic buffer) and 20% (neutral buffer) reduction in comparison with the non-coated group (Epi-Nio).The cytotoxicity and apoptosis results of 4T1 and SkBr3 cells showed an approximately 2-fold increase in the Epi-Nio-HA system over Epi-Nio and free epirubicin, which confirms the superiority of the engineered nanocarriers.

Moreover, real-time PCR data demonstrated the down-regulation of the MMP-2, MMP-9, cyclin D, and cyclin E genes expression while caspase-3 and caspase-9 gene expression were up-regulated.Confocal microscopy and flow cytometry studies uncovered the cellular uptake mechanism of the Epi-Nio-HA system, which was CD44-mediated.Furthermore, in vivo studies indicated Epi-Nio-HA decreased mice breast tumor volume by 28% (compared to epirubicin) without side effects on the liver and kidney.Conclusively, Shirt our results indicated that the HA-functionalized niosomes provide a promising nanoplatform for efficient and targeted delivery of epirubicin to potentially treat breast cancer.