Curcumin-cyclodextrin encapsulated chitosan nanoconjugates with enhanced solubility and cell cytotoxicity

Curcumin (CUR), a naturally derived anti-cancer cocktail is arguably the most widely studied neutraceutical. Despite a lot of promises, it is yet to reach the market as an active anti-cancer formulation. In the present study, we have prepared highly soluble (3 mg/ml) CUR-γ-hydroxypropyl cyclodextrin (CUR-CD) hollow spheres. CUR-CD hollow spheres were prepared by a novel and scalable spray drying method. CUR-CD was then encapsulated into positively charged biodegradable chitosan (CUR-CD-CS) nanoparticles. The CUR-CD-CS nanoparticles were characterised by TEM, SEM, DLS, drug loading and in vitro release. We tested the efficacy of these CUR-CD-CS nanoparticles in SCC25 cell lines using MTT assay and investigated its cellular uptake mechanism. We also studied Oligo DNA loading in CUR-CD-CS nanoparticles and its delivery via confocal imaging and FACS analysis. Our results demonstrated that CUR-CD-CS nanoparticles showed superior in vitro release performance and higher cytotoxicity in SCC25 cell line amongst all tested formulations. The cytotoxicity results were corroborated by cell cycle analysis and apoptosis test, showing nearly 100% apoptotic cell death in the case of CUR-CD-CS nanoparticles. Compared to CS nanoparticles, CS-CD nanoformulation showed higher cellular delivery of Cy3-Oligo DNA which was tested quantitatively using flowcytometry analysis, indicating that CD not only enhanced CUR solubility but also boosted the cellular uptake. Our study shows that rationally designed bio-degradable natural biomaterials have great potential as next generation nano-carriers for hydrophobic drug delivery such as CUR with potential of dual drug-gene delivery.