Chitosan Nanocarrier for Anticancer Drug delivery

With the escalating numbers of world-wide morbidity due to cancer , it has become crucial to explore efficient alternatives to chemo and radiotherapy, which might render  poor prognosis, critical side-effects and drug... [ view full abstract ]

With the escalating numbers of world-wide morbidity due to cancer , it has become crucial to explore efficient alternatives to chemo and radiotherapy, which might render  poor prognosis, critical side-effects and drug resistance. Major drawbacks of chemotherapeutic drugs include systemic toxicity and poor water solubility. Nanocarriers have emerged as a potential drug delivery vehicle to modulate the pharmacokinetic characteristics of chemotherapeutic agents and to also reduce their systemic toxicity by accumulating at tumour site through Enhanced Permeability and Retention (EPR) effect. Chitosan- a naturally occurring biopolymer, has been reported to develop polymeric nanodrug delivery systems. It is endowed with unique features like biodegradibility, biocompatibility, high stability and low toxicity. Herein, we have synthesised chitosan nanoparticles by ionic gelation method for co-delivery of the anticancer hydrophobic drugs paclitaxel and pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC). Characterisations of the drug loaded nanoparticles were carried out using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) measurements. Antiproliferative effect of the dual drug loaded nanocarrier was studied by cell vialibility assay in both cancerous and normal cell lines.