Evaluation of Side Effects and Efficacy of Ferromagnetic Alginate-Chitosan Nanoparticles Encapsulating Docetaxel on PBMCs and MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells

Abstract

Docetaxel is a vital anticancer drug that despite its effectiveness, is associated with side effects in patients. The creation of an innovative docetaxel delivery system has received a lot of attention as a means of addressing issues including uncontrolled drug release, and nonspecific drug distribution with high toxicity. Here, the probable side effects and efficacy of dual-targeted alginate/chitosan coated magnetic nanoparticles encapsulating docetaxel on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and breast cancer cells (MCF-7) were evaluated. The formulated nanoparticles were 23–56 nm in size, had a spherical shape, and a smooth surface. Drug release investigation showed a slow release rate for encapsulated docetaxel during 4 days. Cytotoxicity on the MCF-7 cell line was increased compared to the free drug and IC₅₀ reduced about 26-fold after 72 h. The monitoring of Bax and Bcl-2 showed that the expression pattern was altered to disturb the equilibrium of anti-versus apoptotic genes. IL-1β was downregulated in the encapsulated group. The amount of Apoptosis was not significantly different in PBMCs, but the necrosis rate increased after treatment with encapsulated drug. According to the results, the newly formulated drug offers an innovative approach to enhancing therapeutic efficacy and can be considered an appropriate alternative for docetaxel in cancer treatment.