Synergistic interaction of paclitaxel and curcumin with cyclodextrin polymer complexation in human cancer cells

The use of cytotoxic chemotherapic agents is the most common method for the treatment of metastatic cancers. Poor water solubility and low efficiency of chemotherapic agents are among the major hurdles of effective chemotherapy treatments. Curcumin and paclitaxel are well-known chemotherapic agents with poor water solubility and undesired side effects. In this study, a novel drug nanocarrier system was formulated by encapsulating curcumin and paclitaxel in poly(β-cyclodextrin triazine) (PCDT) for the therapy of four cancer models; ovarian, lung, prostate, and breast cancer. Cell viability and colony formation assays revealed enhanced curcumin cytotoxicity upon complexation. Annexin V apoptotic studies showed that the PCDT complexation improved curcumin induced apoptosis in human ovarian cancer cell lines A2780 and SKOV-3, human nonsmall cell lung carcinoma cell line H1299, and human prostate cancer line DU-145, while no significant effect was observed with paclitaxel/PCDT complexation. The bioactivity of combining curcumin and paclitaxel was also investigated. A synergism was found between curcumin and paclitaxel, particularly when complexed with PCDT on A2780, SKOV-3, and H1299 cancer cell lines.