Nanoparticles as Vectors to Tackle Cancer

Graphene as Nanocarrier for Gold(I)-Monocarbene Complexes: Strength and Nature of Physisorption

Gold(I) metal complexes are finding increasing applications as therapeutic agents against a variety of diseases. As their potential use as effective metallodrugs is continuously confirmed, the issue of their administration, distribution and delivery to desired biological targets emerges. Graphene and its derivatives possess attractive properties in terms of high affinity and low toxicity, suggesting that they can efficaciously be used as drug nanocarriers. In the present study, we computationally address the adsorption of a gold(I) N-heterocyclic monocarbene, namely, IMeAuCl (where IMe = 1,3-dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene), on graphene. The Au(I) N-heterocyclic carbene family has indeed shown promising anticancer activity and the N-heterocyclic ring could easily interact with planar graphene nanostructures. By means of high-level electronic structure approaches, we investigated the strength and nature of the involved interaction using small graphene prototypes, which allow us to benchmark the best-performing DFT functionals as well as assess the role of the different contributions to total interaction energies. Moreover, realistic adsorption enthalpies and free energy values are obtained by exploiting the optimal DFT method to describe the drug adsorption on larger graphene models. Such values (ΔHads = -18.4 kcal/mol and ΔGads= -7.20 kcal/mol for the largest C150H30 model) indicate a very favorable adsorption, mainly arising from the dispersion component of the interaction, with the electrostatic attraction also playing a non-negligible role.

Design, Preparation, and Evaluation of Osthol Poly-Butyl-Cyanoacrylate Nanoparticles with Improved In Vitro Anticancer Activity in Neuroblastoma Treatment

Osthol (osthole), known as a neuroprotective drug, has shown potent anticancer activity. However, the potential clinical application of osthol is limited due to its low water solubility and low bioavailability. Polybutyl cyanoacrylate (PBCA) has been widely used to improve the solubility of drugs with poor water solubility. In this study, an orthogonal experimental design (OED) was applied to design the preparation process of PBCA nanoparticles (NPs). Then, nanoparticles were prepared and evaluated in terms of physicochemical properties, in vitro release, and cellular uptake, etc. Further, the anti-cancer activity of osthol-PBCA NPs was demonstrated in SH-SY5Y cells. The pharmacokinetics and area under the curve (AUC) were investigated. The obtained osthol-NPs presented a spherical shape with a particle size of 110 ± 6.7 nm, a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.126, and a zeta potential of −13 ± 0.32 mV. Compared with the free osthol, the drugs in osthol-NPs presented better stability and sustained release pattern activity. In vitro analysis using SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells showed that osthol-loaded nanoparticles displayed a significantly enhanced intracellular absorption process (three times) and cytotoxicity compared with free osthol (p < 0.05, increased 10−20%). The in vivo pharmacokinetic study revealed that the AUC of osthol-NPs was 3.3-fold higher than that of free osthol. In conclusion, osthol-PBCA NPs can enhance the bioactivity of osthol, being proposed as a novel, promising vehicle for drug delivery.