Effect of curcumin-loaded nanoparticles on mitochondrial dysfunctions of breast cancer cells

Curcumin exhibits excellent anticancer and antibacterial activities. However, this compound has poor solubility and lower bioavailability, which limits its therapeutic efficacy. To improve its anticancer effects, a novel curcumin nanoparticle system using a diblock copolymer MPEG-PCL as a nanocarrier was prepared by a self-assemble method. This novel nanoparticle was applied to assess the cellular uptake and drug cytotoxicity of the breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231. Furthermore, dysfunction of mitochondria during drug treatment was studied by confocal imaging. The results showed that the curcumin-loaded nanoparticles had a preferential uptake in the MDA-MB-231 cells and had a significant increased cytotoxicity compared to curcumin. The nanoparticle can induce fragment of mitochondria, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, and increment of reactive oxygen species, which indicated the apoptosis of cells increased. In addition, intravenous application of curcumin-loaded nanoparticles inhibited the growth of MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma in vivo and exhibited a stronger anticancer ability in comparison to free curcumin. Our present findings clearly demonstrate that the curcumin-loaded nanoparticles display an improved anticancer effect via mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway, which may be a potential utilization for cancer therapy.