Chitosan/reduced graphene oxide/Pd nanocomposites for co-delivery of 5-fluorouracil and curcumin towards HT-29 colon cancer cells

Biopolymer and carbon allotropes-based templates are receiving attention in the biomedical field due to the non-toxic and biocompatible nature. Noble metal nanoparticles (np’s) have attracted increasing interest in biomedical field owing to their unique desirable physical, chemical and biological properties. In the present work, novel anticancer drugs-loaded palladium np’s on chitosan/reduced graphene oxide (Gr) was synthesized through simple and cost-effective chemical reduction method. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) and curcumin-loaded nanocomposites were prepared individually and in conjugated form. Drug-loaded composites were analysed using various characterizations. The size of the drug-coated nanospheres was measured using HRTEM analysis and the size was estimated to be 4–5 nm. Elemental analysis has been carried out using photoelectron spectroscopy and elemental mapping. The release profile has been analysed via different release kinetics. Pd nanospheres on chitosan/Gr facilitate the sustained release of the drug, thus leading to a reduction in the number of doses administered. The cytotoxicity analysis on human colon cancer cells (HT-29) shows efficacy of the system towards effectively hindering the growth of cells.