Fabricating niosomal-PEG nanoparticles co-loaded with metformin and silibinin for effective treatment of human lung cancer cells

Abstract

BackgroundDespite current therapies, lung cancer remains a global issue and requires the creation of novel treatment methods. Recent research has shown that biguanides such as metformin (MET) and silibinin (SIL) have a potential anticancer effect. As a consequence, the effectiveness of MET and SIL in combination against lung cancer cells was investigated in this study to develop an effective and novel treatment method.MethodsNiosomal nanoparticles were synthesized via the thin-film hydration method, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS) techniques were used to evaluate their physico-chemical characteristics. The cytotoxic effects of free and drug-loaded nanoparticles (NPs), as well as their combination, on A549 cells were assessed using the MTT assay. An apoptosis test was used while under the influence of medication to identify the molecular mechanisms behind programmed cell death. With the use of a cell cycle test, it was determined whether pharmaceutical effects caused the cell cycle to stop progressing. Additionally, the qRT-PCR technique was used to evaluate the levels of hTERT, BAX, and BCL-2 gene expression after 48-h medication treatment.ResultsIn the cytotoxicity assay, the growth of A549 lung cancer cells was inhibited by both MET and SIL. Compared to the individual therapies, the combination of MET and SIL dramatically and synergistically decreased the IC50 values of MET and SIL in lung cancer cells. Furthermore, the combination of MET and SIL produced lower IC50 values and a better anti-proliferative effect on A549 lung cancer cells. Real-time PCR results showed that the expression levels of hTERT and BCL-2 were significantly reduced in lung cancer cell lines treated with MET and SIL compared to single treatments (p< 0.001).ConclusionIt is anticipated that the use of nano-niosomal-formed MET and SIL would improve lung cancer treatment outcomes and improve the therapeutic efficiency of lung cancer cells.

Antiproliferative and Antitelomerase Effects of Silymarin on Human Colorectal and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

“…HepG2 treatment with 10 and 30 µg/mL of silymarin decreased hTERT expression to 75% and 35% of the control level, respectively. These findings are consistent with previous studies that have reported a decrease in both telomerase activity and the expression of hTERT transcript level following silibinin treatment [17,30,31,36].…”

Therapeutic effects of nanosilibinin in valproic acid‐zebrafish model of autism spectrum disorder: Focusing on Wnt signaling pathway and autism spectrum disorder‐related cytokines

“…Both silibinin and PVP contain C=O bonds, but the peak of the silibinin C=O bond is overlapped and covered by the PVP carbonyl peak. These results indicate that silibinin and NS have the same chemical structure, but the presence of PVP in the NS formulation affects the intensity of certain characteristic peaks in the FTIR spectra (Patel et al, 2022; Sahibzada et al, 2017; Salmani‐Javan et al, 2023).…”