Cytotoxic Evaluation of (2S)-5,7-Dihydroxy-6-prenylflavanone Derivatives Loaded PLGA Nanoparticles against MiaPaCa-2 Cells.

The search for new alternatives for the prevention and treatment of cancer is extremely important to minimize human mortality. Natural products are an alternative to chemical drugs, since they are a source of many potential compounds with anticancer properties. In the present study, the (2)-5,7-dihydroxy-6-prenylflavanone (semi-systematic name), also called (2)-5,7-dihydroxy-6-(3-methyl-2-buten-1-yl)-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-4-1-Benzopyran-4-one (CAS Name registered) () was isolated from leaves. This flavanone was considered as the lead compound to generate new cytotoxic derivatives , , and . These compounds , , , , and were then loaded in nanosized drug delivery systems such as polymeric nanoparticles (NPs). Small homogeneous spherical shaped NPs were obtained. Cytotoxic activity of free compounds , , , , and and encapsulated in polymeric NPs (NPs, NPs, NPs, NPs and NPs) were evaluated against the pancreatic cancer cell line MiaPaCa-2. The obtained results demonstrated that NPs and NPs exhibited optimal cytotoxicity, and an even higher improvement of the cytotoxic efficacy was exhibited with the encapsulation of . Based on these results, NPs were proposed as promising anticancer agent candidates.