Comparison of protein- and polysaccharide-based nanoparticles for cancer therapy: synthesis, characterization, drug release, and interaction with a breast cancer cell line

Abstract

In this study, human serum albumin (HSA) was used as a protein-based material and poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB)-carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCh) as a polysaccharide-based material for the production of nanoparticles to be used as nanocarriers in cancer therapy. HSA and PHB-CMCh nanoparticles were prepared and characterized with a Zeta Sizer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscope. The effects of the pH value of the suspending medium and the amounts of crosslinker and polymer concentration on nanoparticle size and size distribution were investigated. The anticancer-agent etoposide was used as a model drug and encapsulated in nanoparticles to obtain drug release profiles. The entrapment efficiency of HSA nanoparticles was found to be greater than that of PHB-CMCh nanoparticles. To achieve "active" targeting of cancer cells, the nanoparticles were modified with concanavalin A. In the final step of the study, the interaction of nanoparticles with cancer cells was investigated in cytotoxicity and cellular uptake studies.

Keywords: Concanavalin A; HSA nanoparticle; PHB–CMCh nanoparticle; etoposide.