Elucidating shape-mediated drug carrier mechanics of hematite nanomaterials for breast cancer therapeutics

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. B, Materials for biology and medicine Materials for biology and medicine, 2024-05, Vol.12 (2), p.4843-4853
• Main Authors: Babunagappan, Kaviya Vijayalakshmi, Raj, Thilak, Seetharaman, Abirami, Ariraman, Subastri, Sudhakar, Swathi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents - chemistry; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; Biocompatibility; Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Cancer therapies; Cell death; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Cell Survival - drug effects; Cisplatin; Cisplatin - chemistry; Cisplatin - pharmacology; Cytotoxicity; Drug carriers; Drug Carriers - chemistry; Drug delivery; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Female; Ferric Compounds - chemistry; Ferric Compounds - pharmacology; Ferric oxide; Flow cytometry; Hematite; Humans; Internalization; MCF-7 Cells; Mechanics (physics); Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Particle Size
• ISSN: 2050-750X; 2050-7518
• DOI: 10.1039/d4tb00052h

Metallic nanomaterials have gained significant attention in cancer therapy as potential nanocarriers due to their unique properties at the nanoscale. However, nanomaterials face several drawbacks, including biocompatibility, stability, and cellular uptake. Hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles are emerging as promising nano-carriers to reduce adverse outcomes of conventional chemotherapeutics. However, the shape-mediated drug carrier mechanics of hematite nanomaterials are not raveled. In this study, we tailored hematite nanoparticles in ellipsoidal (EHNP) and spherical (SHNP) shapes with excellent biocompatibility and efficient drug encapsulation and release. We elucidate that EHNP exhibits higher cellular uptake than SHNP. With effective cellular internalization, the cisplatin-loaded EHNP showed excellent cytotoxicity with an IC 50 value of 200 nM compared to the cisplatin-loaded SHNP. The flow cytometry cell sorting (FACS) analysis showed a four-fold increase in cell death by arresting the cells at the G0/G1 and G1 phases for cis -EHNP compared to cis -SHNP. The results show that ellipsoidal-shaped hematite nanoparticles can act as attractive nanocarriers with improved therapeutic efficacy in cancer therapy. Cisplatin-loaded EHNP exhibited a higher cellular uptake rate than Cispatin-loaded SHNP. This effect resulted in high cellular cytotoxicity and cell cycle arrest for cells treated with cis -EHNP at much lower concentrations than cis -SHNP-treated samples.