Today, cancer treatment is an important issue in the medical world due to the challenges and side effects of ongoing treatment procedures. Targeted nanodrug delivery systems can replace current methods to mitigate such side effects. In this study, a novel nanocomposite of starch, zein, and MMT with the drug quercetin (QC) was synthesised with the aim of effectively killing A549 cancer cells despite reducing any harmful effects on normal cells, and then the effect of the nanosystem to evaluate the damages on L929 cell lines (healthy) and A549 (cancerous) were investigated. For this purpose, the drug release test from the nanosystem was conducted at two pH levels of 5.4 and 7.4, and it was observed that the nanosystem successfully released 29 % of the QC drug in the first 12 h. The prepared nanocomposites were analysed by XRD, FT-IR, FESEM, DLS, Zeta potential, and MTT techniques. It was found that the nanoparticles exhibited a consistent and even morphology, with an average particle size ranging from 50 to 100 nm. The DLS study provided evidence of the precise range of size and outstanding durability of the nanoparticles. The nanosystem exhibited a notable enhancement in the rate of cell death in malignant tumours, as evidenced by the MTT tests. The synthesised nanosystem showed a precise and pH-dependent release of the drug, which indicates the biocompatibility of the nanocarrier for the QC drug. According to this, it has the capacity to function as an acceptable substitute for the therapeutic techniques that are now being used.
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