Green Nanoemulsion Stabilized by In Situ Self-Assembled Natural Oil/Native Cyclodextrin Complexes: An Eco-Friendly Approach for Enhancing Anticancer Activity of Costunolide against Lung Cancer Cells
Nabil A. Alhakamy,
Shaimaa M. Badr-Eldin,
Osama A. A. Ahmed,
Hibah M. Aldawsari,
Solomon Z. Okbazghi,
Mohamed A. Alfaleh,
Wesam H. Abdulaal,
Thikryat Neamatallah,
Omar D. Al-hejaili,
Usama A. Fahmy
Affiliations
Nabil A. Alhakamy
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Shaimaa M. Badr-Eldin
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Osama A. A. Ahmed
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Hibah M. Aldawsari
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Solomon Z. Okbazghi
Global Analytical and Pharmaceutical Development, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
Mohamed A. Alfaleh
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Wesam H. Abdulaal
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Cancer and Mutagenesis Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Thikryat Neamatallah
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Omar D. Al-hejaili
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Usama A. Fahmy
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Lung cancer is the second-most deadly malignancy worldwide, of which smoking is considered a major risk factor and causes 75–80% of lung cancer-related deaths. Costunolide (CTD) extracted from plant species Saussurea, Aucklandia, and Inula exhibits potent anticancer properties, specifically in lung cancer and leukemia. Several nanoemulsions were prepared and optimized using a three-factor Box–Behnken experimental design. The optimized green nanoemulsion (GNE) showed a vesicle size of 199.56 nm. The IC50 values revealed that A549 cells were significantly more sensitive to the optimized CTD formula than the plain formula and raw CTD. A cell cycle analysis revealed that the optimized CTD formula treatment resulted in significant cell cycle arrest at the S phase. The results also indicated that treatment with the CTD formula significantly increased caspase-3, Bax, Bcl-2, and p53 mRNA expression compared to the plain formula and CTD raw. In terms of the inflammatory markers, the optimized formula significantly reduced the activity of TNF-α and NF-κB in comparison with the plain formula and raw drug only. Overall, the findings from the study proved that a CTD GNE formulation could be a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of lung cancer.