title: Experimental treatment of breast cancer-bearing BALB/c mice by artemisinin and transferrin-loaded magnetic nanoliposomes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The combination of artemisinin and transferrin exhibits versatile anticancer activities. In previous, we successfully prepared artemisinin and transferrin-loaded magnetic nanoliposomes and evaluated their anti-proliferative activity against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines in vitro. In this study, we investigate the in vivo anti-breast cancer activity of artemisinin and transferrin-loaded magnetic nanoliposome against breast transplanted tumors in BALB/c mice model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Artemisinin and transferrin-loaded magnetic nanoliposomes were prepared and characterized for some physiochemical properties. Pieces of tumor tissue from the breast cancer-bearing BALB/c mice were transplanted subcutaneously to the syngeneic female BALB/c mice. In the presence of the external magnet that placed at the breast tumor site, the tissue distribution and tumor-suppressing effects of prepared nanoliposomes on tumor growth was evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prepared nanoliposomes have fine spherical shape, rough surface, nano-sized diameter and magnetic properties. At 2 h after treatment, the intravenous administration of artemisinin and transferrin-loaded magnetic nanoliposomes followed using the magnetic field approximately produced 10- and 5.5-fold higher levels of artemisinin and transferrin in the tumors, respectively, compared with free artemisinin and transferrin. Moreover, in the presence of an external magnetic field, the prepared nanoliposomes could significantly induce apoptosis in the mice breast cancer cells as well as could reduce tumor volume in tumorized mice at 15 days after treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data suggested that the artemisinin and transferrin-loaded magnetic nanoliposomes would be a good choice for the breast tumor-targeted therapy, due to its high targeting efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Sciences, Borujerd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Borujerd, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gharib
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Sciences, Borujerd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Borujerd, Iran.
authors.forename: Zohreh
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Faezizadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Ali Reza
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mesbah-Namin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ramin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saravani
keywords: Artemisinin; breast cancer; in vivo; magnetic nanoliposome; transferrin