Induction of Apoptosis in HeLa Cancer Cells by Ultrasonic-mediated Synthesis of Curcumin-loaded Chitosan-alginate-STPP Nanoparticles

Abstract

Natural herbal compounds have been widely introduced as the alternative therapeutic approaches in cancer therapy. Despite potent anti-cancer activity of curcumin, its clinical application has been limited because of low water solubility and resulting poor bioavailability. In this study, we designed a novel ultrasonic assisted method for synthesis of curcumin-loaded chitosan-alginate-sodium tripolyphosphate (CS-ALG-STPP) nanoparticles. Furthermore, the antitumor effects of curcumin-loaded nanoparticles have been evaluated in vitro. Filed emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to characterize the nanoparticles properties. The anti-tumor activity of curcumin-loaded nanoparticles was assessed using MTT and real time PCR. FE-SEM and AFM data revealed the spherical morphology and the average size (<50 nm) of nanoparticles. In vitro cytotoxicity assay suggested that curcumin-loaded CS-ALG-STPP nanoparticles display significant anti-tumor activity compared to free curcumin. Gene expression level analysis showed that nanoparticles significantly increase apoptotic gene expression. Collectively, our results suggest that, curcumin-loaded nanoparticles significantly suppressed proliferation and promoted the induction of apoptosis in cancer cells which might be regarded as an effective alternative strategy for cancer therapy