Encapsulation of Drug-Loaded Graphene Oxide-Based Nanocarrier into Electrospun Pullulan Nanofibers for Potential Local Chemotherapy of Breast Cancer

Abstract

With the high rate of mortality associated with breast cancer among women, breast cancer treatment has attracted great deal of attention globally. To reduce the exposure of body organs to high cytotoxicity of the common chemotherapeutic drugs, local co-delivery of selected chemotherapeutics has emerged as a solution. In this work, an electrospun composite including a co-drug-loaded graphene oxide-based nanocarrier is fabricated for local anticancer applications. To increase dispersion and cellular uptake of graphene oxide (GO), first, the hydroxyl groups at the edges of GO are grafted by poly (epichlorohydrin) (PCH) to form GO-PCH. Then, the hydroxyl end groups of PCH are grafted (g) with hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG) leading to formation of oxygen-rich nanocarrier (GO-PCH-g-HPG). Paclitaxel (PTX) and curcumin (Cur) are loaded into the GO-PCH-g-HPG nanocarrier, and are encapsulated into pullulan nanofibers using electrospinning. SEM, FTIR, and UV-Vis characterizations confirmed the presence and distribution of the nanocarrier inside the nanofibers. The drugs showed a sustained release (93 h) from the nanocarrier-loaded nanofibers in the neutral pH (7.4). According to MTT assay and optical microscopy, a synergistic cytotoxicity effect of PTX and Cur is observed. The nanocarrier-encapsulated nanofiber system represents a novel tunable drug delivery system for local chemotherapeutic applications.