SPION@APTES@FA-PEG@Usnic Acid Bionanodrug for Cancer Therapy

In this work, we aimed to develop stable usnic acid (UA)-conjugated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as a potential drug carrier for in vitro analysis of MCF-7 (breast cancer cell line), HeLa (cervix cancer cell line), L929 (mouse fibroblast cell line), U87 (glioblastoma cell line, brain cancer), and A549 (human lung cancer cell line) cell lines. SPIONs were synthesized via the polyol method and functionalized with APTES using the Stöber method. Carboxylated polyethylene glycol (PEG-COOH), folic acid (FA), and carboxylated luteolin (CL) were conjugated on the surface via a carboxylic/amine group using the nanoprecipitation method, respectively. X-ray powder diffraction analysis confirmed the purity of the product with crystallite size of around 11 nm. Fourier-transformed infrared spectrophotometer (FT-IR) analyses explained the conjugation of all functional groups to the surface of SPIONs. The percentages of inorganic and organic content in the products were investigated via thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA). For morphological analysis, a transmission electron microscope (TEM) was used. The superparamagnetic property of the product was also confirmed by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM).