Deferasirox loaded on fumed silica nanoparticles used in cancer treatment

The present study has demonstrated a paradigm of successful in vitro drug delivery systems using Fumed Silica Nanoparticles (FSNPs) as a scaffold. The surface of FSNPs was first coated with (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMS) by a silanization reaction and then was linked with deferasirox via the reaction between -NH2 and -COOH to form well-dispersed surface functionalized biocompatible FSNPs. The obtained nanoparticles were thoroughly characterized by various spectroscopic and microscopic methods such as Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area analysis. The morphology of these structures was investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The cytotoxicity of these compounds were screened for antitumor activity against MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, HeLa, HT-29, Neuro-2a, L929 cell lines and cisplatin was used as a comparative standard by a MTT assay. Our results presented herein provide experimental evidence that fumed silica nanoparticles loaded with deferasirox induce apoptosis in cancer cell lines. Our flow cytometry results confirm that the investigated compound showed a high population of apoptotic cells (55.20%) and 1.2-fold higher than cisplatin (45.15%) at the same concentration and could induce apoptosis of human breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231).