Cytotoxicity of paclitaxel loaded and surface coated poly methacrylic acid-PEG-chitosan based nanoparticles on oestrogen positive breast cancer cells (MCF7) / Noor Farina Nazli

Cancer is a class of diseases which is characterized by uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in the body. It can be divided into two major types, which is benign and malignant tumour. Since conventional paclitaxel formulation using Cremophor­ ethanol (CrEL) is associated with adverse effects, new formulations in the form of paclitaxel nanoparticles are recently developed so as to improve the therapeutic effectiveness and reduce the toxicity arisen from CrEL. This study compared the cytotoxicity of conventional paclitaxel and the new formulation which containing polymethacrylic acid. This can be done by using cell culture technique. Cell culture is a complex process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. Cells were grown and maintained at an appropriate temperature and gas mixture (typically, 37°C, 5% CO2 for mammalian cells) in a cell incubator. Cells were then plated and treated with the formulation and incubated for 72 hour. After that, the cells is were fix with trichloro acetate and dried overnight. The sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay is used for cell density determination, based on the measurement of cellular protein content. In this study we found that polymethacrylic acid loaded with paclitaxel did not result in improved antitumor activity. The IC50 of paclitaxel alone remains low which is 0.8%. Besides, the result also shows that paclitaxel alone is more potent than the new formulation. Therefore, more extensive investigation of polymethacrylic acid­ paclitaxel formulation should be carried out in the future.