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The in vitro therapeutic activity of betulinic acid nanocomposite on breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and normal fibroblast cell (3T3)

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Abstract

In the present study, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were coated with chitosan (CS) polymer to form CS–MNP nanoparticles. The CS–MNP were loaded with an anticancer drug, betulinic acid (BA) to form a BA–CS–MNP nanocomposite. The prepared nanocomposite was characterized using XRD, FTIR, TGA, VSM, SEM, TEM, and zeta potential techniques. The release behavior of the BA from the nanocomposite was investigated at pH 7.4, and the study found that the release of BA followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The potential cytotoxicity of free BA, MNPs, CS–MNP, and the BA–CS–MNP nanocomposite was evaluated using normal mouse fibroblast cells (3T3) and breast cancer cells (MCF-7). BA and the nanocomposite at concentrations in the range 0.781–50 μg mL−1 did not affect the viability of normal cells during 72 h of incubation. The BA and BA–CS–MNP nanocomposite exhibited cytotoxicity in MCF-7 cells in a dose-dependent manner with IC50 values of 2 and 3.6 μg mL−1, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

The Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia (MOHE) provided funding for this research under Grant No. 05-03-10-1035 RUGS (vote 9199644).

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflict of interests in this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

    Samer Hasan Hussein-Al-Ali

  2. Faculty of Pharmacy, Isra University, P.O. Box 22, Amman, 11622, Jordan

    Samer Hasan Hussein-Al-Ali

  3. Laboratory of Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

    Palanisamy Arulselvan & Sharida Fakurazi

  4. Department of Human Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

    Sharida Fakurazi

  5. Materials Synthesis and Characterization Laboratory, Institute of Advanced Technology (ITMA), Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

    Mohd Zobir Hussein

Authors
  1. Samer Hasan Hussein-Al-Ali
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  2. Palanisamy Arulselvan
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  3. Sharida Fakurazi
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  4. Mohd Zobir Hussein
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Correspondence to Mohd Zobir Hussein.

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Hussein-Al-Ali, S.H., Arulselvan, P., Fakurazi, S. et al. The in vitro therapeutic activity of betulinic acid nanocomposite on breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and normal fibroblast cell (3T3). J Mater Sci 49, 8171–8182 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8526-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8526-3

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