Magnetically controlled drug delivery and hyperthermia effects of core-shell Cu@Mn3O4 nanoparticles towards cancer cells in vitro

Recent increase in the integration of nanotechnology and nanosciences to the biomedical sector fetches the human wellness through the development of sustainable treatment methodologies for cancerous tumors at all stages of their initiation and progression. This involves the development of multifunctional theranostic probes that effectively support for the early cancer diagnosis, avoiding non-target cell toxicity, controlled and customized anticancer drug release etc. Therefore, to advance the field of nanotechnology-based sustainable cancer treatment, we fabricated and tested the efficacy of anticancer drug-loaded magnetic hybrid nanoparticles (NPs) towards in vitro cell culture systems. The developed conjugate of NPs was incorporated with the functions of both controlled drug delivery and heat-releasing ability using Mn3O4 (manganese oxide) magnetic core with Cu shell encapsulated within trimethyl chitosan (TMC) biopolymer. On characterization, the Cu@Mn3O4-TMC NPs were confirmed to have an approximate size of 130 nm with full agglomeration (as observed by the HRTEM) and crystal size of 92.95 ± 18.38 nm with tetragonal hausmannite phase for Mn3O4 spinel structure (XRD). Also, the UV–Vis and FTIR analysis provided the qualitative and quantitative effects of 5-fluororacil (5-Fu) anticancer drug loading (max 68 %) onto the Cu@Mn3O4-TMC NPs. The DLS analysis indicated for the occurrence of no significant changes to the particle size (around 100 nm) of Cu@Mn3O4-TMC due to the solution dispersion thereby confirming for the aqueous stability of developed NPs. In addition, the magnetization values of Cu@Mn3O4-TMC NPs were measured to be 34 emu/g and a blocking temperature of 42 K. Further tests of magnetic hyperthermia by the Cu@Mn3O4-TMC/5-Fu NPs provided that the heat-releasing capacity (% ΔT at 15 min) increases with that of increased frequency, i.e. 28 % (440 Hz) > 22.6 % (240 Hz) > 18 % (44 Hz), and the highest specific power loss (SPL) value observed to be 488 W/g for water. Moreover, the 5-Fu drug release studies indicate that the release is high at a pH of 5.2 and almost all the loaded drug is getting delivered under the influence of the external magnetic field (430 Hz) due to the influence of both Brownian-rotation and Néel relaxation heat-mediated mechanism. The pharmacokinetic drug release studies have suggested for the occurrence of more than one model, i.e. First-order, Higuchi (diffusion), and Korsemeyer–Peppas (non-Fickian), in addition to hyperthermia. Finally, the in vitro cell culture systems (MCF-7 cancer and MCF-10 non-cancer) helped to differentiate the physiological changes due to the effects of hyperthermia and 5-Fu drug individually and as a combination of both. The observed differences of cell viability losses among both cell types are measured and discussed with the expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) by the MCF-10 cells as against the MCF-7 cancer cells. We believe that the results generated in this project can be helpful for the designing of new cancer therapeutic models with nominal adverse effects on healthy normal cells and thus paving a way for the treatment of cancer and other deadly diseases in a sustainable manner.