pH-responsive magnetic CuFe2O4-PMAA nanogel conjugated with amino-modified lignin for controlled breast cancer drug delivery

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 25987 - 14
• Main Authors: Fattahi, Nadia, Aghaz, Faranak, Rezaei, Aram, Ramazani, Ali, Heydari, Abolfazl, Hosseininezhad, Seyedmohammad, Jung, Won-Kyo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 29-10-2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/61/54/152; 631/67/1347; 639/301; 639/638; 639/638/455/954; Adipic acid dihydrazide; antitumor activity; Breast cancer; Cell survival; Curcumin; Cytotoxicity; Drug delivery; Fourier transforms; Humanities and Social Sciences; Lignin; Microscopy; multidisciplinary; Nanogel; Nanotechnology; pH effects; pH-responsive; Physical properties; Polymers; Scanning electron microscopy; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Transmission electron microscopy; X-ray diffraction; lignin; drug delivery; Nanogel; antitumor activity; pH-responsive
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-77414-6

In this study, a novel magnetic and pH-responsive nanocarrier was developed, incorporating both natural and synthetic polymers, for delivering curcumin (CUR) to breast cancer cells. For this purpose, CuFe
2
O
4
@poly(methacrylic acid) (CuFe
2
O
4
@PMAA) nanogel was developed and conjugated with amino-modified lignin (Lignin-adipic acid dihydrazide conjugate, Lig-ADH) to achieve the CuFe
2
O
4
@PMAA@Lig-ADH nanocarrier. The morphology, structure, and physical properties of the synthesized nanomaterials were examined using a range of techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The synthesized nanocarrier exhibited a spherical shape, with an average diameter of approximately 15 nm, and demonstrated good magnetic responsiveness. Moreover, the in vitro drug release was found to be pH-dependent, with an increased release rate in acidic conditions. To evaluate cytotoxicity, the survival of MCF-7 cells was measured using the MTT assay for 24 h. Notably, the synthesized CuFe
2
O
4
@PMAA@Lig-ADH@CUR and CUR exhibited significant cytotoxic effects, effectively eliminating MCF-7 cells with IC
50
values of 39.80 µg/mL and 4.27 µg/mL, respectively. Also, the significant intracellular uptake of NPs was confirmed by FITC and DAPI staining after 4 h. This research highlighted the potential of CuFe
2
O
4
@PMAA@Lig-ADH@CUR as a highly effective nano-delivery system and demonstrated a straightforward method for utilizing renewable lignin.