PGMD/curcumin nanoparticles for the treatment of breast cancer

The present study aims at developing PGMD (poly-glycerol-malic acid-dodecanedioic acid)/curcumin nanoparticles based formulation for anticancer activity against breast cancer cells. The nanoparticles were prepared using both the variants of PGMD polymer (PGMD 7:3 and PGMD 6:4) with curcumin (i.e. CUR NP 7:3 and CUR NP 6:4). The size of CUR NP 7:3 and CUR NP 6:4 were found to be ~ 110 and 218 nm with a polydispersity index of 0.174 and 0.36, respectively. Further, the zeta potential of the particles was − 18.9 and − 17.5 mV for CUR NP 7:3 and CUR NP 6:4, respectively. The entrapment efficiency of both the nanoparticles was in the range of 75–81%. In vitro anticancer activity and the scratch assay were conducted on breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231. The IC50 of the nanoformulations was observed to be 40.2 and 33.6 μM at 48 h for CUR NP 7:3 and CUR NP 6:4, respectively, in MCF-7 cell line; for MDA-MB-231 it was 43.4 and 30.5 μM. Acridine orange/EtBr and DAPI staining assays showed apoptotic features and nuclear anomalies in the treated cells. This was further confirmed by western blot analysis that showed overexpression of caspase 9 indicating curcumin role in apoptosis.