Gelatin grafted Fe3O4 based curcumin nanoformulation for cancer therapy

Abstract Combination of natural polymer and nanoparticle has always been fascinating for biomedical applications. Here, we have demonstrated a simplified dessolvation-coprecipitation technique for the development of gelatin grafted Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (Gel-MNPs), and investigated their potential applications in drug delivery and hyperthermia therapy. XRD, TEM, FTIR, TGA and light scattering techniques were used to confirm the phase formation of core Fe3O4 MNPs and their successful surface modification with gelatin moieties. The Gel-MNPs showed good aqueous colloidal stability and pH dependent surface charge characteristics. The hydrophobic anticancer agent, curcumin was employed as a model drug to investigate the loading and release properties of Gel-MNPs. A loading efficiency of about 95% was achieved at drug to particle ratio of 1:10 and curcumin loaded Gel-MNPs (Cur-Gel-MNPs) exhibited pH dependent release behaviour of loaded drug with higher release at mild acidic environment. These Cur-Gel-MNPs have shown dose dependent cytotoxicity towards lung (A549) and breast (MCF-7) cancer cell lines. Further, CUR-Gel-MNPs exhibited enhanced heat activated killing of cancer cells under AC magnetic field, suggesting their usefulness for magnetic hyperthermia therapy.