Document Type : Research Articles
Authors
1
Department of Genetics, Tehran Medical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2
Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
3
Biotechnology Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
4
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul Aydin University, Istanbul, Turkey.
5
Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract
Background: Breast cancer is one of the most significant causes of female cancer death worldwide. To explore the possibility of a novel chemo-preventive strategy for improving breast cancer treatment, the anticancer effects of two natural compounds, Artemisinin (Art) and Chrysin (Chr), against T47D breast cancer cells were investigated. Methods: For this purpose, Art and Chr were co-encapsulated in PEGylated PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) and the synthesized NPs were characterized by FE-SEM, FTIR, and DLS and then, MTT assay was used to assess and compare the cytotoxicity of various concentrations of the chemotheruptic molecules in pure and nanoformulated forms as well as in alone and combination state after 48 h exposure time. Drug release study was performed using the dialysis method. Also, the mRNA levels of hTERT genes expression were studied by quantitative real-time PCR. Results: The results showed that pure and formulations drugs exhibited dose-dependent cytotoxicity against T47D cells and especially, Art/Chr–PLGA/PEG NPs had a more synergistic anti-proliferative effect and significantly arrested the growth of cancer cells than the other groups. Moreover, Real-time PCR results revealed that Art, Chr and combination of Art–Chr in pure and encapsulated forms inhibited hTERT gene expression. Conclusions: It was found that Art/Chr–PLGA/PEG NPs relative to pure combination could further decline hTERT expression in all concentrations. Our study demonstrated that Art/Chr-PLGA/PEG NPs based combinational therapy holds promising potential for the treatment of breast cancer.
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