Potential Anti-Proliferative Effect of Nano-formulated Curcumin Through Modulating Micro RNA-132, Cyclin D1, and hTERT Genes Expression in Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Curcumin (CUR) a phenolic compound originally derived from the turmeric plant is known as a promising therapeutic agent for several human diseases including malignancies. Despite remarkable anti-cancer effects, disadvantages including short half-life time and low bioavailability limit its usage for efficient cancer therapy. Curcumin was first encapsulated into PLGA-PEG nanoparticles. Then, using DLS, FE-SEM, and FTIR assays, the synthesized NPs were characterized. Furthermore, MCF-7 cells were exposed to different concentrations of free CUR and NP-CUR, and then the cell survival rates and gene expression profile were followed utilizing the MTT and qRT-PCR techniques, respectively. The obtained results illustrated that CUR was efficiently encapsulated into PLGA-PEG NPs. Also, MTT assay indicated that NP-curcumin more effectively inhibited MCF-7 cell viability than free curcumin treatment. Besides, qRT-PCR results evidenced that exposure of cells to CUR and NP-CUR led to upregulation of P53 and miR-132, and subsequent downregulation of hTRET and Cyclin D1 genes expression. However, changes in the expression profiles of these genes were remarkably higher in NP-CUR group. Taken together, the findings of this study suggested that encapsulation of curcumin into PLGA-PEG could increase its anti-cancer effects on breast cancer cells by modulating P53, Cyclin D1, hTRET, and MicroRNA-132 axis.