Plumbagin is a nutraceutical with potent anti-
cancer activity. However, the therapeutic efficacy of
plumbagin is overshadowed by the lack of sensitivity and selectivity towards
cancer cells. The present study evaluated the use of nano-biotechnological intervention to cage
plumbagin in
silver nanoparticles for selective targeting of its
biological effects towards cancerous cells. Caging of
plumbagin in
silver nanoparticles imparted selectivity and sensitivity to
plumbagin for selective killing of
cancer cells by altering the redox signalling events in the
cancer cells. The selectivity and sensitivity of
plumbagin towards
cancer cells was due to the cumulative expression of the properties of
plumbagin and nanoparticles which specifically affected the differential
cancer cell microenvironment by altering the
pyruvate kinase activity that regulates the ROS challenge in cancerous cells. The positive surface charge of
plumbagin caged
silver nanoparticles (PCSN)
aids in getting them targeted towards anionic cancerous cells due to the exposed terminal carboxyl group of
sialic acid residues. Furthermore, we observed that the effective concentration of the
drug required to induce apoptosis was brought down to 50% upon caging of
plumbagin on
silver nanoparticles. We observed no such effect with the individual compound alone. The results indicated that the physico-chemical and biochemical properties of
plumbagin significantly changed after conjugation with nanomaterials that facilitated "adding-in" therapeutical values to
plumbagin which would otherwise be overshadowed by its lack of sensitivity and selectivity towards
cancer cells.