Curcumin marinosomes as promising nano-drug delivery system for lung cancer

Lung cancer is the major cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Curcumin attracted attention due to its promising anti-cancer properties, however its poor aqueous solubility and bioavailability have to be overcome. In the current study curcumin is encapsulated in krill lipids-based liposomes (marinosomes) to develop a potential anticancer therapy from low-cost and readily available nutraceuticals. Reflux followed by thin drug-lipid film method is used successfully to incorporate the drug into the liposomal membrane at high encapsulation efficiency (EE). The curcumin-loaded marinosomes (CURMs) showed a powerful antioxidant activity (EC₅₀ ≒ 4 μg/mL). Additionally, CURMs exhibited good physicochemical and oxidative stability after eight weeks' storage at 4 °C. Furthermore, CURMs exhibited sustained release of about 30% of their curcumin content under in vitro culture conditions at 37 °C after 72 h. Consequently, CURMs showed its maximum cytotoxic effect (IC₅₀; 11.7 ± 0.24 μg/ml) after incubation for 72 h against A549 lung cancer cells. Additionally, CURMs inhibited the proliferation of HUVECs in a dose-dependent manner with IC₅₀ of 2.64 ± 0.21 μg/ml after incubation for 24 h. The current study presents the CURM as a favorable in vitro drug delivery system to target cancer disease.