Silk Fibroin Nanoparticles Reveal Efficient Delivery Of 5-Fu In A Ht-29 Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Model In Vitro

The aim of the paper was to investigate the efficiency of 5-FU delivery from smart silk fibroin nanoparticles in a HT-29 colorectal adenocarcinoma model in vitro. Therefore, nanoparticles with various amounts of silk fibroin were obtained by nanoprecipitation method and characterized to evaluate the 5-FU encapsulation efficiency and release profile. All nanoparticles showed a good entrapment of the drug and were capable to release 5 -FU in a polymer concentration dependent manner. The in vitro biological evaluation revealed an excellent biocompatibility of the pristine silk fibroin nanocarriers, while 5-FU loaded nanoparticles proved to be highly cytotoxic and dramatically decreased the HT-29 cellular viability and proliferation potential. More, the 5-FU silk fibroin nanoparticles induced alterations in the HT-29 cellular morphology and inhibited the formation of compact cellular clusters.