Synergistic effects of quercetin-loaded CoFe₂O₄@Liposomes regulate DNA damage and apoptosis in MCF-7 cancer cells: based on biophysical magnetic hyperthermia

Abstract

Introduction

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy in women globally. Significant progress has been made in developing structural nanoparticles (NPs) and formulations for targeted smart drug delivery (SDD) of pharmaceuticals, improving the precision of tumor cell targeting in therapy.

Significance

Magnetic hyperthermia (MHT) treatment using magneto-liposomes (MLs) has emerged as a promising adjuvant cancer therapy.

Methods

CoFe₂O₄ magnetic NPs (MNPs) were conjugated with nanoliposomes to form MLs, and the anticancer drug quercetin (Que) was loaded into MLs, forming Que-MLs composites for antitumor approach. The aim was to prepare Que-MLs for DD systems (DDS) under an alternating magnetic field (AMF), termed chemotherapy/hyperthermia (chemo-HT) techniques. The encapsulation efficiency (EE), drug loading capacity (DL), and drug release (DR) of Que and Que-MLs were evaluated.

Results

The results confirmed successful Que-loading on the surface of MLs, with an average diameter of 38 nm and efficient encapsulation into MLs (69%). In vitro, experimental results on MCF-7 breast cells using MHT showed high cytotoxic effects of novel Que-MLs on MCF-7 cells. Various analyses, including cytotoxicity, apoptosis, cell migration, western blotting, fluorescence imaging, and cell membrane internalization, were conducted. The Acridine Orange-ethidium bromide double fluorescence test identified 35% early and 55% late apoptosis resulting from Que-MLs under the chemo-HT group. TEM results indicated MCF-7 cell membrane internalization and digestion of Que-MLs, suggesting the presence of early endosome-like vesicles on the cytoplasmic periphery.

Conclusions

Que-MLs exhibited multi-modal chemo-HT effects, displaying high toxicity against MCF-7 BC cells and showing promise as a potent cytotoxic agent for BC chemotherapy.

Keywords:

• MLs
• quercetin
• chemo-HT
• internalization
• PARP inhibitors
• MCF-7 cancer cells

Acknowledgements

Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Researchers Supporting Project number (PNURSP2024R454), Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Credit author statement

Shehab: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, writing-Original draft preparation, Reviewing and Editing. Abo bakr: Writing-Original draft preparation, Methodology, Software, Conceptualization, Validation, Reviewing and Editing. Hanan: Software, Conceptualization, Writing-Original draft preparation, Reviewing and Editing, Methodology, Validation., Hesham: Methodology, Writing-Original draft preparation, Software, Conceptualization, Validation, Reviewing and Editing. Basmah: Validation, Methodology, Writing-Original draft preparation, Software, Conceptualization, Reviewing and Editing. Zienab: Methodology, Software, Writing-Original draft preparation, and Conceptualization. Basma: Writing-Original draft preparation, Methodology, Software, Conceptualization, Mohamed: Methodology, Writing-Original draft preparation, Software, Validation, Reviewing and Editing.

Ethical statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

I’m the corresponding author and I declare that: The manuscript should not be submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration.

Consent for publication

N/A.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors do not have permission to share data.