Metformin-loaded BSA nanoparticles in cancer therapy: a new perspective for an old antidiabetic drug

Clinical and experimental data suggest that there is a strong association between type II diabetic mellitus and pancreatic cancer. The present study focuses on exploring the anticancer and antidiabetic properties of metformin-loaded bovine serum albumin nanoparticles (BSA NPs) on (MiaPaCa-2) pancreatic carcinoma cell lines. Albumin nanoparticles were synthesized using coacervation method and the average size of the particles was found to be 97 nm. The particles were stable and showed a spherical morphology with narrow size distribution. We investigated the impact of two stages characterized in type II diabetes mellitus (hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia) on the proliferation of MiaPaCa-2 cells and compared the inhibitory effects of bare metformin to that of MET-BSA NPs. Further, different concentrations of insulin and glucose were added along with bare metformin, bare BSA, and metformin encapsulated BSA carrier on MiaPaCa-2 cells to check the strong association between type II diabetes and pancreatic cancer. The results revealed that MET-BSA NPs showed more toxicity when compared with drug and carrier individually.