Fabrication of drugs loaded UiO-66 nanoparticles loaded core-shell nanofibers: investigation of antiproliferative activity and apoptosis induction in lung cancer cells

ABSTRACT

Nanotechnology-enabled drug delivery has been demonstrated to be a superior cancer treatment. Lung, liver, brain, breast, and cervical cancer cells have all demonstrated extreme cytotoxicity when exposed to electrospun nanofibers encasing anti-cancerous drugs. Herein, we developed Polyurethane (P)/Carboxymethyl chitosan (C)/Polyethylene oxide (P) (termed as PCP) core-shell nanofibers were loaded with gemcitabine (GEM) and folic acid (FA) for regulated GEM and FA release towards the apoptosis of A549 and H1299 cells. Analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterise the fabricated nanocarriers. Synthesised nanofibers have been studied for their drug-loading and release efficacy of GEM/MOFs and FA/MOFs. The cytotoxicity data suggested that PCP loaded with GEM and FA might be employed to treat a wide range of cancers. The cell morphological investigation was examined by the acridine orange and ethidium bromide staining, and the DAPI staining assessed the nuclear damage of the cells. The flow cytometry methods investigated the hallmark of apoptosis. There is an opportunity for promising GEM delivery for lung cancer treatment with the FA-GEM/UiO-66 loaded-PCP core-shell nanofibers.

KEYWORDS:

• Carboxymethyl chitosan
• gemcitabine
• core-shell nanofibers
• folic acid
• UiO-66
• metal-organic framework
• lung cancer

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

All data generated or analysed during this research are included in this published article.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by Researchers Supporting Project number [RSP2024R383], King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.