Anticarcinogenic Effects of Capsaicin-Loaded Nanoparticles on In vitro Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Background:: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most frequent cancer worldwide with a low overall survival due to high metastasis and recurrence rates. The aim of this study is to assess and compare the possible anti-neoplastic effect of capsaicin and nanoformulated capsaicin on in vitro HCC human cell line HepG2. Materials and Methods:: Capsaicin-loaded trimethyl chitosan nanoparticles (CL TMCS NPs) were synthesized by iontropic gelation of cationic TMCS with capsaicin. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized through TEM, and zeta analyzer. Human hepatocarcinoma HepG2 cell lines were cultured and treated with 50, 75 & 100 μM of capsaicin (CAP), plain TMCS NPs and CL-NPs as well as ethanol (control) for 24h and 48h. The induced effects were investigated by flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry assay for Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase proteins and evaluating gene expression levels of Bcl-2, Bax, and MDR-1 mRNA by real-time PCR. Results:: Our results demonstrated that capsaicin- loaded NPs had the potential to significantly increase capsaicin bioactivity compared with the plain capsaicin formulation either in inducing apoptosis through altering expression of apoptotic regulators or modifying MDR-1 expression. Conclusions:: TMCs nanoparticles investigated in this study may be a good drug delivery vehicle for capsaicin. Application of capsaicin-loaded NPs in HCC management as an adjunct therapeutic approach may be a novel strategy to improve the treatment efficacy and resistance of the conventionally used chemotherapy.

Natural Products for the Management of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: Special Focus on Nanoparticles Based Studies

“…Though nanoparticles of other natural anti-prostate cancer (anti-PCa) agents were also prepared, those nanoparticles were not discussed here because, to the best of our knowledge, the activity studied for the nanoparticles in those articles was not anti-PCa, for example, fisetin nanoparticles (Kadari et al, 2017), luteolin (Majumdar et al, 2014;Li et al, 2020), eugenol (Majeed et al, 2014), capsaicin (Elkholi et al, 2014;Peng et al, 2014;Lv et al, 2017;Hazem et al, 2021;Kunjiappan et al, 2021), and emodin (Sevilla et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2014;Wu et al, 2017;Jänicke et al, 2021). So, further research can be done to analyze the anti-prostate cancer potential for these nanoformulations.…”

Evaluation of Antidepressant Activity of Capsaicin Nanoemulsion in Nicotine Withdrawal-Induced Depression in Mice

“…Numerous investigations have represented nanoemulsion as a potential drug delivery carrier for phytochemicals and bioactive compounds, due to their tremendous advantages in solubility enhancement, spontaneous emulsification, and thermodynamic and kinetic stability over ordinary emulsions [10][11][12][13][14]. Various nanomaterials-based drug delivery carriers, such as nanoliposomes [15]; polymeric micelles [16]; solid lipid nanoparticles [17][18][19]; polymeric nanoparticles [20][21][22][23]; nanostructured lipid carriers [17,24,25]; and silver nanoparticles [26] of CAP have been studied in literature for the enhancement of CAP's drug delivery potential, skin penetration, therapeutic potential, and pharmacokinetic profile. A nanoemulsion formulation of CAP has also been studied to enhance its skin penetration potential [27].…”