As the most common
cancer in women, efforts have been made to develop novel nanomedicine-based
therapeutics for
breast cancer. In the present study, the in silico
curcumin (Cur) properties were investigated, and we found some important drawbacks of Cur. To enhance
cancer therapeutics of Cur, three different nonionic
surfactants (
span 20, 60, and 80) were used to prepare various Cur-loaded
niosomes (Nio-Cur). Then, fabricated Nio-Cur were decorated with
folic acid (FA) and
polyethylene glycol (PEG) for
breast cancer suppression. For PEG-FA@Nio-Cur, the gene expression levels of Bax and p53 were higher compared to free
drug and Nio-Cur. With PEG-FA-decorated Nio-Cur, levels of Bcl2 were lower than the free
drug and Nio-Cur. When MCF7 and 4T1 cell uptake tests of PEG-FA@Nio-Cur and Nio-Cur were investigated, the results showed that the PEG-FA-modified
niosomes exhibited the most preponderant endocytosis. In vitro experiments demonstrate that PEG-FA@Nio-Cur is a promising strategy for the delivery of Cur in
breast cancer therapy.
Breast cancer cells absorbed the prepared nanoformulations and exhibited sustained drug release characteristics.