BTN-PEG-PCL nanoparticles for targeted delivery of curcumin: In vitro and in Ovo assessment

The major challenge of curcumin (CUR) therapy is the low bioavailability in the tumor cells, which could be solved by targeting and manipulating nanoparticles (NPs) in the drug delivery systems (DDS) through enhancement of CUR uptake. In our study, ligand-targeted micelle NPs including BTN-poly ethylene glycol-polycaprolactone(PCL) (BTNcment-PEG-PCL) and mono methoxy poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (caprolactone) (mPEG-PCL) diblock co-polymers series were synthesized by way of a single-step nano-precipitation method and characterized by H NMR, FT-IR, DSC, DLS, TEM, and GPC techniques. Following CUR-loading on the NP series, cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of CUR-BTN-PEG-PCL and CUR-mPEG-PCL on human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), Human embryonic kidney (HEK293), and human umbilical vein endothelial (HUVEC) cell lines were evaluated by MTT assay and microscope fluorescence, respectively. Then, in vitro studies of targeted and untargeted NPs for the cell cycle and apoptosis assessment using flow cytometry have shown that CUR in CUR-BTN-PEG-PCL as a novel and targeted nanocarrier increases the cell population of Sub G1 and apoptosis. Moreover, in Ovo chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay demonstrated that CUR-BTN-PEG-PCL has notably decreased tumor cell proliferation and angiogenesis due to enhanced CUR bioavailability for the site-specific tumor. In conclusion, BTN-PEG–PCL NPs as a novel and efficiently targeted nanocarrier predominantly improved CUR potential for cancer therapy.