Enhancing the efficacy of radiotherapy with Kalanchoe daigremontiana: A nanotechnological approach

Abstract

Radiotherapy is widely utilized in the treatment of cancer, but this method is associated with dose-dependent limitation. Herbal compounds contain various secondary metabolites that increase the effectiveness of radiotherapy. However, a significant challenge associated with the use of herbal preparations is their poor biocompatibility. To address this limitation, the active ingredients of the leaves of Kalanchoe daigremontiana were extracted subsequently, phytoniosomes were prepared from the extract. The phytoniosomes were characterized through various analyses, Content analysis was performed with Quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (QTOF-MS) and encapsulation efficiency was evaluated with High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Then, the cytotoxic effects of the phytoniosomes were evaluated on the Human Breast Epithelial Adenocarcinoma Cell Line (MCF-7), and Human Cervix epithelial Adenocarcinoma Cell Line (HeLa), using the MTT assay over multi-periods. Then radiotherapy studies have been carried out to increase this effect via Linear Accelerator (LINAC). Finally, to further understand the interactions between the phytoniosomes and cells, the niosomes were labelled with Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and fluorescence images were obtained. The results confirmed that the size of plain niosomes and phytoniosomes were 95.9 ± 0.52 and 126.0 ± 5.14 nm, respectively and localized around cytoplasm. Phytoniosomes combined with radiotherapy on cell lines are more effective than radiotherapy or phytoniosomes alone. The cell viability decreased significantly to 7.102 ± 3.51 for the MCF-7 cell line and to 8.183 ± 4.117 for the HeLa cell line). In conclusion, the combined use of these niosomal preparations with radiotherapy has the potential to be used as a tool for overcoming dose-dependent limitation in radiotherapy.