title: Folate conjugated silk fibroin nanocarriers for targeted drug delivery.
abstract: Disease treatment processes mainly focus on the development of nontoxic, biodegradable, non-immunogenic, biocompatible materials capable of controlled and long-term release of biomolecules. In this work silk protein fibroin from non-mulberry tropical tasar silkworm, Antheraea mylitta, is used to prepare nanoparticles as a drug delivery system. Folate is a vitamin, which is brought into healthy and cancerous cells by folate receptors. The efficiency of silk fibroin-folate nanoparticles loaded with anticancer drug doxorubicin was evaluated by analysing the cell viability, proliferation and endocytosis. Consequently the effects of pro-inflammatory responses by cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-1β and nitric oxide were checked by stimulating the macrophages with folate conjugated silk fibroin nanoparticles. The fibroin-folate nanocarriers are nontoxic, easily taken up by cells and capable of sustained drug release. Nanoparticles loaded with anticancer drug doxorubicin target cancer cells. The results show that silk fibroin-folate nanoparticles may serve as promising nanocarriers for different biomedical and nanotechnology applications in cancer research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India. kundu@hijli.iitkgp.ernet.in.
authors.forename: Bano
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Subia
authors.forename: Sourov
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chandra
authors.forename: Sarmistha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Talukdar
authors.forename: Subhas C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Kundu
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods; D004705:Endocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005349:Fibroins / Q000737:chemistry*; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: C482288:fibroin, silkworm; D004317:Doxorubicin; D005349:Fibroins; D005492:Folic Acid