Background: In June 2021, the Central Drug Standards Control Organization approved a fixed-dose combination tablet containing remogliflozin etabonate (100 mg) and teneligliptin (10 mg) to manage type II diabetes.
Objective: This study aims to develop a stability-indicating RP-HPLC method for quantifying remogliflozin etabonate and teneligliptin in tablet formulations via analytical quality by design (AQbD) principles.
Methods: Risk assessment, Plackett-Burman design, and central composite design were employed to understand the impact of independent variables on critical analytical attributes. The stationary phase was a HyperClone BDS C18 column, and the mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile and phosphate buffer (20 mM, pH 5) at a 45:55% (v/v) ratio.
Results: The method, validated per ICH Q2 (R1), resulted in retention times of 3.395 and 12.308 min for teneligliptin and remogliflozin etabonate, respectively. Forced degradation studies confirmed robustness, with clear peak separation and no interference from degradation products. The AGREE score of 0.65 supports its green applicability for tablet analysis in quality control.
Conclusion: The AQbD-assisted RP-HPLC method developed in this study offers environmental friendliness, efficient separation with well-defined peaks, and simple mobile phase combination.
Objective: The current research work focused on the evaluation of of H. rhamnoides and C. intybus Fe2O3 NPs against liver cancer cell line (HepG2) by performing antiproliferative assay targeting the RhoA gene and apoptotic pathway genes and proteins.
Methods: Fe2O3 NPs were synthesized using extracts of H. rhamnoides and C. intybus and characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, FTIR, SEM/EDS and XRD. MTT assay was used to study cytotoxicity against the HepG2 cells. Real-time qPCR and ELISA were used for the gene and protein analysis.
Results: An absorbance peak at 300 nm for H. rhamnoides and 289 nm for C. intybus nanoparticles were observed by UV-Vis analysis. The FTIR bands of H. rhamnoide Fe2O3 NPs suggested the presence of aldehydes, alcohols and polyols whereas bands of C. intybus Fe2O3 NPs suggested the presence of carboxyl groups, hydroxyl groups, alkynes and amines. The size of Fe2O3 NPs was found to be 27 ± 5nm for H. rhamnoides and 84 ± 4nm for C. intybus. The IC50 value of 41.69 µM for H. rhmnoides and 71.04 µM for C. intybus Fe2O3 NPs compared to plant extract (78.10 and 96.03 µM for H. rhamnoides and C. intybus, respectively) were found against HepG2 cells. The gene expression and protein levels of RhoA were decreased whereas those of bax, caspase 3, caspase 8 and caspase 9 were found increased.
Conclusion: Nanoparticles and extract of H. rhamnoides were found more effective as compared to C. intybus, which was evident by the results of cytotoxicity and analysis of studied genes and proteins.
Objective: Itraconazole (ITZ), a widely used systemic antifungal drug, has been ingeniously repurposed for its antitumor effects. In the present work, we have prepared and optimized the ITZ-loaded transferosomes by Quality by Design (QbD) approach and repurposed them for skin cancer.
Methods: The transferosomal formulation was optimized by employing a QbD approach with the design of experiment. A combination of screening and optimization design was used for formulation optimization. The optimized formulation was characterized by particle size, PDI, zeta potential, FTIR, XRD, and surface morphology using TEM. In vitro and ex vivo studies were performed using Franz diffusion cells. An in vitro cell line study was performed on the human melanoma A375 cell line.
Results: The optimized formulation has a particle size of 192.37 ± 13.19 nm, PDI of 0.41 ± 0.03, zeta potential -47.80 ± 3.66, and an entrapment efficiency of 64.11 ± 3.75%. In vitro release studies showed that ITZ encapsulated transferosomes offer higher and sustained release than pure drugs. Ex vivo drug penetration and retention studies show that the penetration and retention of transferosomes are more visible in the skin than in the drug. The cell viability study confirms that ITZ encapsulated transferosomes have almost 2-fold more potency against the A375 cell line than pure drug.
Conclusion: ITZ encapsulated transferosomes were successfully prepared and optimized using a combination of screening and optimization designs. Based on ex vivo and cell line studies, we conclude that ITZ-loaded transferosomes could aid melanoma management alongside standard therapies.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a healthcare concern that causes most cancer-linked deaths around the world. This work was aimed at unraveling the anticancer potential of acamprosate and development of mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) drug delivery system to increase the therapeutic efficacy of acamprosate. For this purpose, the MSNs were synthesized and encapsulated with acamprosate (MSN-Acamp). The MSN and MSN-Acamp were characterized by DLS, Zeta potential, UV spectroscopy, SEM, FTIR, XRD, DFT, and XPS. Biological effects were evaluated by MTT and lactate dehydrogenase assays. The apoptotic mode of cell death was evaluated by fluorescence imaging and DNA fragmentation assay. Cell cycle assessment and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining were performed to depict the phase of cell arrest and stage of apoptotic cells respectively. The acamprosate was found to exhibit cytotoxic effect and MSN-Acamp exhibited an increased cytotoxicity. Apoptotic mode of cell death was revealed by fluorescence imaging as nuclear fragmentation, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), loss of membrane potential in mitochondria, and chromatin condensation/fragmentation were found. The docking results revealed that acamprosate had a considerable binding affinity with Bcl-2, Mcl-1, EGFR, and mTOR proteins. Overall, our results indicated that acamprosate and MSN-Acamp had a potent apoptotic effect and MSNs are propitious drug carriers to increase therapeutic effect in HCC.
Lung cancer has become progressively widespread, posing a challenge to traditional chemotherapeutic drugs such as platinum compounds and paclitaxel (PTX) owing to growing resistance. Along with that, the chemotherapeutic drugs infer major side effects. The usage of natural compounds as chemosensitizers to boost the efficacy of these chemotherapeutic drugs and minimizing their toxicity is a plausible approach. In our investigation, we employed PTX as the standard chemotherapeutic agent and utilized chrysin-functionalized gold nanoparticles (CHR-AuNPs) to augment its cytotoxicity. Gold nanoparticles were chosen for their inherent cytotoxic properties and ability to enhance chrysin's bioavailability and solubility. Characterization of CHR-AuNP revealed spherical nanoparticles within the nano-size range (35-70 nm) with a stable negative zeta potential of -22 mV, confirmed by physicochemical analyses including UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectral analysis, and visual observation of the wine-red coloration. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay cytotoxicity studies demonstrated CHR-AuNP's superior efficacy compared to CHR alone, with synergistic effects observed in combination with PTX, validated by Compusyn software. Morphological changes indicative of apoptosis were more pronounced with combined treatment, corroborated by acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EtBr) staining and Annexin V assays. Furthermore, the combination treatment amplified reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and destabilized mitochondrial membrane potential, while altering the expression of pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins. Exploring the mechanistic pathways, we found that the drugs upregulated PPAR-γ expression while suppressing Akt and overexpressing PTEN, thereby impeding the Wnt/β-catenin pathway commonly dysregulated in lung cancer. This highlights the potential of low-dose combination therapy with PTX and CHR-AuNP as a promising strategy for addressing lung cancer's challenges.