Synthesis and Characterization of Magnetic Stearic Acid Modified Sulfated Alginate and Investigation of the Cytotoxicity and Apoptosis in MCF-7 Cell Line

Abstract

Breast cancer is the type of cancer that causes death in the first place among women in 2022, with a rate of 6.9%. According to the data of the World Health Organization in 2024, 665,684 women died due to breast cancer in 2022. Cancer metastasis is the main reason why people die from cancer. Since changes in proliferation-related gene expression and protein levels that occur as a result of mutations that cause metastasis make cancerous cells more proliferatively aggressive, treatment opportunities remain limited. Sulfatide has the potential to be a p-selectin inhibitor, as it is a p-selectin-binding molecule that has an antimetastatic effect. Sulfatide mimicking material has previously been studied by sulfonation and acylation of chitosan. It was evaluated as an anticancer drug carrier because it did not have cytotoxic effects against cancer cells. In this study, a sulfatide-like molecule was obtained using alginate and it was found to have a cytotoxic effect against cancer cells. The compound that is newly synthesized in the presented article is an alternative to the group of sulfatide-like compounds that we have previously studied, which are thought to have an antimetastatic effect. The molecular disruption of the apoptosis mechanism in cancerous tissues leads to the resistance of cancerous cells to apoptosis, which in turn promotes cancer progression. For this reason, cancer studies focus on cell death, that is, apoptosis, as well as on cell proliferation. This study is the first to combine the simultaneous sulfation and acylation of alginate with the addition of magnetism, despite previous research on the sulfation, acylation, and alkylation of alginate (M-SA-SULF-A) and analysed it by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy, a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and a mastersizer. Then we aim to examine the effect of newly modified magnetic stearic acid on apoptosis in MCF-7 cells by looking at the expressions of apoptosis-and metastatasis related genes through an array kit, and to reveal the molecular pathways that cause modified alginate’s anti-cancer activity. Thus, we determined that magnetic stearic acid modified sulfated alginate may be an anti-cancer agent by regulating the expression of genes associated with apoptosis.