Anticancer efficiency of doxorubicin and berberine-loaded PCL nanofibers in preventing local breast cancer recurrence

Abstract

The combination of anticancer drugs with plant-derived natural products not only enhances the cytotoxicity of chemical drugs in cancer cells but also ameliorates their toxicity in normal cells. In this study, the composite nanofibers of PCL containing anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) and berberine (BBR) were fabricated using the electrospinning method. The cytotoxic effects of nanofibers were evaluated on MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The drug release profile was also investigated at different pH (5.4 and 7.4). In addition, the expression levels of BCL-2 and Caspase-3 mRNA in the MCF-7 cells treated with the nanofibers were assessed by Real-Time PCR. The BBR-DOX-loaded nanofibers showed a controlled and sustained release profile in vitro up to 72 h. The loading of BBR and DOX into PCL nanofiber increased cytotoxicity in MCF-7 cells. Gene expression results also showed a significant reduction in the expression level of the BCL-2 gene in DOX-BBR-loaded nanofibers. Moreover, the treatment of cancer cells with PCL/DOX-BBR effectively increased the expression levels of the Caspase-3 gene compared to single drug-loaded nanofibers and the control group. Therefore, the dual drug-encapsulated nanofibers may be considered as a safe and promising protocol after breast cancer surgery to prevent local cancer recurrence.