Lactoferrin based copper nanoparticles: a promising anti-cancer strategy against malignant melanoma

Skin cancer is one of the common malignancies worldwide, with malignant melanoma being its most aggressive and deadly form due to its high metastatic potential and resistance to conventional treatments. This underscores need for innovative treatment strategies. Protein-based nanoparticles known for enhanced bioavailability, targeted drug delivery, and reduced systemic toxicity, have emerged as promising tools against oncology. Lactoferrin, a multifunctional non-heme glycoprotein, exhibits diverse biological applications, including antimicrobial, antiviral, antiparasitic, and anti-cancer abilities. Current work reports the synthesis of spherical lactoferrin-coated copper nanoparticles (Cu-LFNPs) and evaluated for their anti-melanoma and antibacterial potential. The synthesized Cu-LFNPs exhibit enhanced stability, water solubility, drug loading efficiency (86.14 ± 3.45%), and sustained release profile (86.99 ± 1.77% release in 36 h). The Cu-LFNPs exhibit significant toxicity against A375 melanoma cells, reducing cell viability to 23.24 ± 1.84% at 40 µg/mL which is further supported by scratch assay. These findings suggest that Cu-LFNPs exhibit colossal potential to serve as an effective therapeutic strategy against malignant melanoma.