Cellulose nanocrystals/cellulose nanofibrils-combined astaxanthin nanoemulsion for reinforcement of targeted tumor delivery of gastric cancer cells

Nanoemulsion based nanomaterial (NE) was carried out in the present study to evaluate the efficacy and its antitumor potential of the gastric cancer cells. NE was prepared with astaxanthin/alpha-tocopherol- cellulose nanocrystals/cellulose nanofibrils based nanoemulsions for gastric cancer treatment. The cytotoxic potential was tested against cancer cells and evaluated in terms of its cell proliferation, migration, and cellular uptake by the standard methods. NE was examined for its synergetic effect with photodynamic therapy (PDT) in a xenograft mouse model. The results confirmed the synergetic effect of PDT and NEs in the in vivo animal model. The regulated expression of proteins manifested the reduced toxicity and inhibition of cell proliferation and migration. The antitumor study showed that NE inhibited the growth of human colon cancer in vivo. Immunohistological analysis confirmed the regulation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. The present study demonstrates that NEs can enhance anti-cancer effect against human gastric cancer through the immunomodulatory signaling pathway.