Sodium butyrate entrapped chitosan-PAMAM for suppression of colorectal cancer cells

Objective Cancer treatment is a major concern of health worldwide. Nowadays, colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases throughout the globe. Therefore, novel cancer treatment modalities are required to stop cancer. Thus, this paper aims to develop a novel drug delivery system (DDS) based on Chitosan (CS), polyamidoamine (PAMAM G4), and Nanoparticles (NP) for efficient delivery of sodium butyrate (NB) and Fe2O3 to SW480 colorectal cancer cells. Methods To do so, after characterizing the nanocarrier with FT-IR, DLS, TEM, and TGA, nanometric size (40-65 nm), high drug content (23% Fe2O3 and 3% NB), controlled NB release (4% within 2 h), and pH-sensitive NB release (35% within 2 h) were measured for CS-PAMAM-Fe2O3-NB. Result In biomedical tests, MTT assay indicated 10% (after 24 h), 8% (after 48 h), and 7% (after 72 h) cell viabilities for 200 nM concentration of CS-PAMAM-Fe2O3-NB nanocarrier on SW480 cells while pure NB did not have potential toxicity on cancer cells. IC50 determined for 25 nM after 24 h. qRT-PCR test indicated a 7-fold and 10-fold increase for Caspase9 and Bax apoptotic genes whereas 0.3-fold expression quantified for Bcl2 anti-apoptotic gene. Conclusion According to the obtained results, it can be concluded that the fabricated nanocarrier would be a potential DDS against colorectal cancer cells. The results of these biomedical tests have approved potential the ability of the synthesized DDS in the inhibition of colorectal cancer cells. High biocompatibility was shown in MSC normal cells which further verified the efficiency of CS-PAMAM-Fe2O3-NB.