Department of Pharmacology, Nanomedicine Engineering Laboratory of Jilin Province, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China.
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China.
Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2019 Aug 1;180:313-318. doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2019.04.061. Epub 2019 May 1.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising procedure for breast cancer therapy. Curcumin (Cur), a hydrophobic polyphenol derived from the spice turmeric, has been considered as a potential photosensitizer for PDT with evoked immune response, excellent safety, and low cost. However, the translation of curcumin in clinical cancer therapy suffers from an insufficient therapeutic dose in tumor tissues due to its poor solubility and low bioavailability. In this study, carrier-free curcumin nanodrugs (Cur NDs) were prepared without using any toxic solvents through a facile and green reprecipitation method. Cur NDs exhibited distinct optical properties, light-sensitive drug release behavior, resulting in increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and PDT efficacy on breast cancer cells compared with free Cur. Furthermore, cell apoptosis during Cur-based PDT was concomitant with the activation of the ROS-mediated JNK/caspase-3 signaling pathway. Overall, our carrier-free Cur nanodrugs may be promising candidates for facilitating the efficacy and safety of PDT against breast cancer.
光动力疗法 (PDT) 是一种有前途的乳腺癌治疗方法。姜黄素 (Cur) 是一种源自香料姜黄的疏水性多酚，已被认为是 PDT 的潜在光敏剂，具有诱发免疫反应、极好的安全性和低成本的特点。然而，由于其溶解度差和生物利用度低，姜黄素在临床癌症治疗中的应用受到限制，导致肿瘤组织中的治疗剂量不足。在这项研究中，通过简便、绿色的再沉淀法制备了无载体的姜黄素纳米药物 (Cur ND)，而不使用任何有毒溶剂。与游离 Cur 相比，Cur ND 表现出明显的光学特性和光敏感的药物释放行为，导致活性氧 (ROS) 的产生增加和对乳腺癌细胞的 PDT 疗效增强。此外，基于 Cur 的 PDT 过程中的细胞凋亡伴随着 ROS 介导的 JNK/caspase-3 信号通路的激活。总的来说，我们的无载体姜黄素纳米药物可能是提高 PDT 治疗乳腺癌的疗效和安全性的有前途的候选药物。
