Enhanced anti-cancer effects of magnetic targeted pH-sensitive curcumin delivery system based on heterogeneous magnetic α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 nanoparticles on gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells

Abstract

Problem: Unhealthy dietary habits and inadequate existing treatment technologies have led to high morbidity and mortality rates in patients with gastric cancer, and the research shows that curcumin has excellent antitumor properties, however, the non-water-soluble characteristic of curcumin limits its applications. To break the limitation, the targeted drug carriers become the urgent need to treat gastric cancer. Method: The heterogeneous magnetic α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 nanoparticles were obtained by rapid combustion method with citric acid (CA) and ferric nitrate as raw materials and anhydrous ethanol as solvent and fuel, and then modified with citric acid (CA) and chitosan (CTS), and loaded curcumin (Cur) to form α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4-CA-CTS-Cur nanosystem. Results: The particle sizes of heterogeneous magnetic α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 nanoparticles and α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4-CA-CTS-Cur nanosystem were 24.9 nm and 35.6 nm, respectively, and their respective saturation magnetization were 70.9 emu/g and 30.3 emu/g. The magnetic α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4-CA-CTS-Cur nanosystem had good stability, excellent drug release rate, and enhanced apoptosis to gastric cancer cells (SGC-7901) through the caspase pathway and ferroptosis of cells. Conclusions: The magnetic drug delivery nanosystem was successfully constructed, and revealed significant inhibitory and killing effects on SGC-7901 cells, and low toxic and side effects on normal cells.

Keywords

• Heterogeneous magnetic α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 nanoparticle
• α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4-CA-CTS-Cur nanosystem
• Curcumin