Tamoxifen citrate/Coenzyme Q10 as smart nanocarriers Bitherapy for Breast Cancer: Cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and antioxidant activity

Abstract

Nanotechnology-based bitherapy has recently emerged as an effective strategy to overcome biomedical barriers against successful anticancer therapy. The study aimed to evaluate lipid nanocarriers loaded with tamoxifen citrate/coenzyme Q10 (TC/CoQ10) as bitherapy for selective targeting of breast cancer. Based on a previous study, four formulations of lipid nanocarriers were selected for in-vitro cell viability estimation using both MCF-7 and normal WISH cell lines. Oxidative status, cytopathological changes, and genetoxicity were also investigated. The results showed 100% mortality for tested cells without selectivity even at very low concentration for free drugs. On the other hand lipid nanocarriers revealed an increase in % cell viability for normal WISH cell line reaching 100% at 0.25 μg/ml. The lipid nanocarrier formulated from stearic acid and lecithin showed LC 50 on MCF-7 cell line (1.6 μg/ml) compared to (4.8 μg/ml) on WISH cell line. The cell death pathway for unformulated bitherapy depended on necrosis rather than apoptosis. The Malondialdehyde concentration was decreased, while Glutathione level increased to near normal values in both MCF-7 and WISH cells. The results demonstrated a promising synergistic and selective action of TC/CoQ10 bitherapy on breast cancer cells when administered in lipid nanocarriers delivery system.