Enhanced anti-cancer activity by localized delivery of curcumin form PVA/CNCs hydrogel membranes: Preparation and in vitro bioevaluation.

This study targets to develop curcumin-loaded polyvinyl alcohol/cellulose nanocrystals (PVA/CNCs) membrane as localized delivery system for breast/liver cancer. A novel strategy was developed for enhancing encapsulation capacity and maximizing therapeutic efficiency of curcumin-loaded PVA/CNCs membranes. Membranes were prepared by solution-casting method using citric acid as crosslinker. SEM revealed that PVA/CNCs ratio (80:20) was chosen as the optimum for loading curcumin. FT-IR indicated that, curcumin was incorporated into PVA/CNCs in amorphous-phase via intermolecular hydrogen bond between curcumin and membrane components. Curcumin showed biphasic-release through burst-release of 41% of curcumin during the first hour, followed by sustained-release of 70% and 94% during 24 h and 48 h, respectively. In vitro cytotoxicity of PVA/CNCs/Curcumin membrane exhibited a selective inhibition proliferation of breast and liver cancer cells in a concentration-dependent without any toxic effect on normal cells. At high concentration (8 mg/ml) of PVA/CNCs/Curcumin, reduced viability to 35% and 7% of MCF-7 and Huh-7 cells, respectively; meanwhile high HFB-4 normal cell viability ≥80% was investigated. Antimicrobial activity of PVA/CNCs/Curcumin was investigated by multi-drug-resistant strains, and MIC values. PVA/CNCs/Curcumin membranes with concentration (40 mg/ml) showed broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities, thus inhibited ~96-99% of microbial growth. PVA/CNCs/Curcumin membranes could be as promised anti-infective biomaterials for breast and liver cancer wound healing.