Development of BSA conjugated on modified surface of quercetin- loaded lipid nanocarriers for breast cancer treatment

Multiple drug resistance is a key limitation for the clinical administration of chemotherapeutic drugs, apart from this their major limitations with free drugs are poor solubility, physiochemical and pharmaceutical behavior. These limitations with free drugs can be overcome by nanoformulations using natural biopolymer. In this study, successful utilization of P-glycoprotein receptor for the delivery of anticancer drug quercetin (Q), encapsulated inside the lipid nanocarriers (LNs) was introduced for the treatment of breast cancer. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was conjugated on the Q-loaded LNs( BSA-Q-LNs) for targeting to receptor. Q-loaded LNs were prepared using a single emulsion solvent evaporation method, followed by surface modification of Q-loaded LNs using charge interaction. Finally, surface modified Q-loaded LNs were conjugated with BSA using thiol reaction. The formulated nano construct was a spherical structure with a shell size of 530 nm. Encapsulation of Q inside the matrix of LNs is confirmed from shift in FT-IR, XRD peak. The release kinetic of Q- loaded LNs formulation was best fitted in a first-order kinetic model suggesting early burst of Q followed by slow release. The entrapment efficiency and drug loading efficiency were found to be 76 ± 0.3% and 15.72 ± 0.7% respectively. The Q-loaded LNs and BSA-Q-LNs displayed the improved cytotoxicity in drug resistance human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) as compared to free Q. (paper)