Study of cellular uptake of novel drug formulations for paclitaxel on triple negative breast cancer cells (MDA-231) / Nurul Bazliah Ahmad

Paclitaxel is one of the most important drug of choice for cancer treatment. However, commercially available paclitaxel used in the current clinical setting is formulated in Cremophor EL, a solvent which has been reported to elicit a number of adverse side effects. Nanoparticle (NP) technology may provide a safer alternative for sustained chemotherapy. The aim of this work was to investigate the efficiency of cellular uptake of polymeric nanoparticles which were coated with poly methacrylic acid (PMAA), poly acrylic acid (PAA), and poly N-vinyl caprolactam (PNVCL) using an in vitro model (breast cancer triple negative MDA-231 cells). Coumarin-6 loaded polymeric nanoparticles were prepared by polymerization dispersion method. Coumarin-6 was used for the purpose of fluorescent labelling to assist in the detection of cellular uptake of nanoparticles by MDA-231 cells. In the present study, the use of fluorescence plate reader was utilized in quantifying the efficiency of cell uptake. Cellular uptake of coumarin-6 loaded nanoparticles by MDA-231 was highest (8.20%) in poly N-vinyl caprolactam (PNVCL), when compared to poly methacrylic acid (PMAA, 7.55%) or poly acrylic acid (PAA, 6.23%) nanoparticles. The PNVCL coated nanoparticles showed greater advantages in vitro compared to the other two formulations. Studies on PNVCL coated nanoparticles deserve further attention and more studies on its efficacy are important.