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RGD-decorated nanoliposomes for combined delivery of arsenic trioxide and curcumin to prostate cancer cells

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Abstract

Nanotechnology and drug co-delivery offer a novel avenue in drug delivery research liposome-based co-delivery of anticancer drugs targeting the apoptosis pathway as a promising new approach to treat cancer. In this study, a co-delivery system of liposomes (arsenic trioxide/curcumin) modified with RGD peptide was designed to aim for enhancing the treatment of prostate cancer cells (PC3 cell line). Liposomal co-loaded curcumin and arsenic trioxide modified by RGD peptide (NLPs-RGD-Cur-ATO) were prepared by thin-layer lipid hydration techniques for the treatment of prostate cancer. The stability of the NLPs-RGD-Cur-ATO was evaluated by particle size analysis through dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The percentage of cytotoxicity and apoptotic effect in PC3 cells treated with NLPs-RGD-Cur-ATO were detected by MTT and Annexin V-FITC (fluorescein isothiocyanate)/PI affinity assay, respectively. The particle size of NLPs-RGD-Cur-ATO was approximately 100 nm, with an encapsulation efficiency of about 99.52% and 70.61%, for ATO and Cur, respectively. Besides, NLPs-RGD-Cur-ATO displayed an enhanced anti-proliferative effect, increased the percentage of apoptotic cells 98 ± 1.85% (p < 0.0001), and significantly reduced EGFR gene expression level (p < 0.001) in the cell line tested. These results indicated that our NLPs-RGD-Cur-ATO co-delivery system was a promising strategy for prostate cancer therapy.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during the current study are available with the corresponding author(s).

Abbreviations

RGD:

Arginine-glycine-aspartic

ATO:

Arsenic trioxide

TEM:

Transmission electron microscope

DLS:

Dynamic light scattering

Cur:

Curcumin

NLPs:

Nanoliposomes

PC:

Prostate cancer

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Acknowledgements

The present article was extracted from a Master’s thesis written by Fatemeh Amiri.

Funding

This article was financially supported by Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, Iran (Project Number: 4000105).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Student Research Committee, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, Iran

    Fatemeh Khosravani & Fatemeh Amiri

  2. Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, Iran

    Rouzbeh Mahmoudi, Ebrahim Hosseini & Hassan Bardania

  3. Bioprocess Engineering Research Group, Department of Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Tehran, Iran

    Dina Morshedi

  4. Department of Medical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Shams Alley, Vali-E-Asr Ave, Tehran, Iran

    Farzad Kobarfard

  5. Phytochemistry Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Shams Alley, Vali-E-Asr Ave, Tehran, Iran

    Farzad Kobarfard

  6. Department of Advanced Medical Sciences & Technologies, School of Medicine, Jahrom University of Medical Sciences, Jahrom, Iran

    Mohsen Alipour

Authors
  1. Fatemeh Khosravani
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  2. Fatemeh Amiri
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  7. Ebrahim Hosseini
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  8. Hassan Bardania
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Contributions

FK performed the experiments and analyzed the data; FA, RM, DM, FK, and MA performed the experiments; HB and EH designed the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. The authors declare that all data were generated in-house and that no paper mill was used.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ebrahim Hosseini or Hassan Bardania.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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We received full approval for this study from the Ethics Committee of Yasuj University of Medical Sciences (Ethical Code number: IR.YUMS.REC.1400.166).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Khosravani, F., Amiri, F., Mahmoudi, R. et al. RGD-decorated nanoliposomes for combined delivery of arsenic trioxide and curcumin to prostate cancer cells. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 397, 2347–2357 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-023-02752-7

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