Investigation and optimization of naringin-loaded in MOF-5 encapsulated by liponiosomes as smart drug delivery, cytotoxicity, and apoptotic on breast cancer cells

Abstract

Tumors are considered dangerous due to their significant global mortality rate, with breast cancer (BC) being a major contributor to this statistic, impacting almost all tumor patients worldwide. Conventional methods for BC treatment, such as special naringin (NG) chemotherapy based on nanotechnology components, have been insufficient, and a new approach has been used to improve drug delivery (DD) to cancer. Herein, developed biocompatible nanoparticles (NPs) comprising NG-loaded zinc metal-organic framework-5 (NG-MOF-5) encapsulated with liponiosomes (LNs) to create NG-MOF-5@LNs. Various biophysical characteristics of free NG, MOF-5, and NG-MOF-5@LNs NPs were studied, including XRD, FTIR, TEM, SEM, zeta potential (ZP), hydrodynamic size, PDI, loading efficiency (LE), encapsulation efficiency (EE), drug release (DR), and drug-release kinetics. TEM images showed that NG-MOF-5@LNs NPs consisted of monodispersed spherical-like particles with average diameters of 122.5 nm (*P < 0.05). The optimized NG-MOF-5@LNs exhibited a particle size (PDI: 139.8 nm) and a ZP (+ 21 mV). The EE and LE for NG-MOF-5@LNs were 89.15% and 14.05%, respectively. Four kinetic models were examined to understand the NG release mechanism at pH 6.9, with the Higuchi model indicating excellent fit (R2 = 0.9988). The MTT cell viability assay demonstrated anti-cancer activity against MCF-7 BC cells, with inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of 231.9, 188.2, and 21.6 µg/mL (*P < 0.05) for MOF-5, NG, and NG-MOF-5@LNs, respectively, indicating an apoptosis effect on MCF-7 cells. NG-MOF-5@LNs is expected to emerge as a novel long-term-release anticancer agent. NG-MOF-5@LNs may represent a superior option for BC therapy compared to conventional NG formulations.