Folate/N-acetyl glucosamine conjugated mesoporous silica nanoparticles for targeting breast cancer cells: A comparative study.

Folate receptors (FR) have been well recognized as a marker to target nano-sized carriers for cancer diagnosis and therapy. In contrast, influx transport systems (e.g. GLUT transporters) that transport essential amino acids and nutrients to cancer cells have not been exploited much for targeted delivery. In this study, folic acid- or n-acetyl glucosamine- functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with doxorubicin (DOX-FA-MSNPs or DOX-NAG-MSNPs) were prepared, characterized and compared for targeting along with cytotoxicity towards MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells. Cellular uptake of FITC tagged FA-MSNPs and NAG-MSNPs were evaluated by confocal microscopy and flow cytometry in above-mentioned cancer cell lines. The result suggested higher cellular uptake of NAG-MSNPs than FA-MSNPs for both the cell lines. Cytotoxicity of free DOX, DOX-MSNPs, DOX-FA-MSNPs and DOX-NAG-MSNPs were evaluated on both the breast cancer cell lines. Cytotoxicity results showed that DOX-loaded NAG-MSNPs exerted significant higher cytotoxicity effect on both the cell lines than DOX-FA-MSNPs. Moreover, both the targeted formulations were more effective than free DOX. Our results suggested that GLUT transporters can be effectively utilized for nanoparticles internalization in breast cancer cells.