title: Biocompatible Lipid Nanoparticles as Carriers To Improve Curcumin Efficacy in Ovarian Cancer Treatment.
abstract: Curcumin is a natural molecule with proved anticancer efficacy on several human cancer cell lines. However, its clinical application has been limited due to its poor bioavailability. Nanocarrier-based drug delivery approaches could make curcumin dispersible in aqueous media, thus overtaking the limits of its low solubility. The aim of this study was to increase the bioavailability and the antitumoral activity of curcumin, by entrapping it into nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs). For this purpose here we describe the preparation and characterization of three kinds of curcumin-loaded NLCs. The nanosystems allowed the achievement of a controlled release of curcumin, the amounts of curcumin released after 24 h from Compritol-Captex, Compritol-Miglyol, and Compritol NLCs being, respectively, equal to 33, 28, and 18% w/w on the total entrapped curcumin. Considering the slower curcumin release profile, Compritol NLCs were chosen to perform successive in vitro studies on ovarian cancer cell lines. The results show that curcumin-loaded NLCs maintain anticancer activity, and reduce cell colony survival more effectively than free curcumin. As an example, the ability of A2780S cells to form colonies was decreased after treatment with 5 μM free curcumin by 50% ± 6, whereas, at the same concentration, the delivery of curcumin with NLC significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited colony formation to approximately 88% ± 1, therefore potentiating the activity of curcumin to inhibit A2780S cell growth. The obtained results clearly suggest that the entrapment of curcumin into NLCs increases curcumin efficacy in vitro, indicating the potential use of NLCs as curcumin delivery systems.
authors.affiliation: Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (ISMN), CNR, U.O.S. Palermo , via Ugo La Malfa, 153, 90146 Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2674-1654
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bondì
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biomedicina ed Immunologia Molecolare (IBIM) "Alberto Monroy", CNR , via Ugo La Malfa 153, 90146 Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Rita
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Emma
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Polimeri Biocompatibili, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , Via Archirafi 32, 90123 Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Botto
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biomedicina ed Immunologia Molecolare (IBIM) "Alberto Monroy", CNR , via Ugo La Malfa 153, 90146 Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Augello
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biomedicina ed Immunologia Molecolare (IBIM) "Alberto Monroy", CNR , via Ugo La Malfa 153, 90146 Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Azzolina
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biopatologia e Biotecnologie Mediche (DIBIMED), Scuola di Medicina e Chirurgia , via Del Vespro 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5910-5750
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Gaudio
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Polimeri Biocompatibili, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , Via Archirafi 32, 90123 Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuela Fabiola
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Craparo
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Polimeri Biocompatibili, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , Via Archirafi 32, 90123 Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Gennara
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cavallaro
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Centre, Hôpital L'Hotel-Dieu de Québec, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec , Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.|Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University , Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Dimcho
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bachvarov
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biomedicina ed Immunologia Molecolare (IBIM) "Alberto Monroy", CNR , via Ugo La Malfa 153, 90146 Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Melchiorre
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cervello
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D003474:Curcumin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010316:Particle Size
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D008055:Lipids; D003474:Curcumin
keywords: cancer; curcumin; drug release; epithelial ovarian cells; nanostructured lipid carriers