Cytotoxic activity of poly-ɛ-caprolactone lipid-core nanocapsules loaded with lycopene-rich extract from red guava (Psidium guajava L.) on breast cancer cells.

The aims of this study were to produce poly-ɛ-caprolactone lipid-core nanocapsules containing lycopene-rich extract from red guava (LEG), to characterize those nanoparticles and to evaluate their cytotoxic effects on human breast cancer cells. Lipid-core nanocapsules containing the extract (nanoLEG) were produced by the method of interfacial deposition of the preformed polymer. The nanoparticles were characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Polydispersity Index, Zeta Potential, pH, Encapsulation Efficiency, Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Cell viability was evaluated by the MTT dye reduction method in the human breast cancer MCF-7 cell line and inhibition of ROS and NF-κB was assayed in living human microglial cell line (HMC3) by time-lapse images microscopy. A hemolytic activity assay was carried out with sheep blood. Data showed that nanoparticles average size was around 200 nm, nanoparticles concentration/mL was around 0.1 µM, negative zeta potential, pH < 5.0 and spherical shape, with low variation during a long storage period (7 months) at 5 °C, indicating stability of the system and protection against lycopene degradation. The percentage of encapsulation varied from 95% to 98%. The nanoLEG particles significantly reduced the viability of the MCF-7 cells after 24 h (61.47%) and 72 h (55.96%) of exposure, even at the lowest concentration tested (6.25-200 µg/ml) and improved on the cytotoxicity of free LEG to MCF-7. NanoLEG inhibited LPS-induced NF-kB activation and ROS production in microglial cells. The particles did not affect the membrane integrity of sheep blood erythrocytes at the concentrations tested (6.25-200 µg/mL). Thus, the formulation of lipid-core nanocapsules with a polysorbate 80-coated poly-ɛ-caprolactone wall was efficiently applied to stabilize the lycopene-rich extract from red guava, generating a product with satisfactory physico-chemical and biological properties for application as health-promoting nanotechnology-based nutraceutical, emphasizing its potential to be used as a cancer treatment.

Long-term exposure to MST-312 leads to telomerase reverse transcriptase overexpression in MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

Telomerase is an enzyme responsible for telomere maintenance in almost all human cancer cells, but generally not expressed in somatic ones. Therefore, antitelomerase therapy is a potentially revolutionary therapeutic strategy, and the antitumor activity of telomerase inhibitors (TI) has been studied extensively recently, mainly for breast cancer. However, the effects expected from treatment with TI will appear only after many cell divisions, but the effects of this long-term approach are unknown. In this work, the consequences of 3120 h exposure of human breast cancer cells to TI MST-312 were investigated. MCF-7 cells were treated with MST-312 at a subtoxic concentration for a long time, and then cell morphology, viability, senescence, and proliferation were analyzed by phase-contrast microscopy, MTT assay, ß-galactosidase test, and the trypan blue exclusion assay, respectively. Also, chromosomal stability was evaluated by classical cytogenetic analysis. The average length of telomeres and telomerase reverse transcriptase expression were accessed by real-time PCR and real-time RT-PCR, respectively. The MST-312 showed cytotoxic action and promoted telomere erosion, senescence, and chromosome aberrations, as expected, but in a small proportion. Nevertheless, the proliferation rate of the culture was not affected. As the main effect, the chronic exposure led to cell adaptation by overexpression of telomerase in response to the inhibitor, which is a potential cause of therapeutic failure and may be associated with a poor prognosis. In conclusion, despite the high therapeutic potential of TIs such as MST-312, the molecular outcomes of long-term exposure of tumors on these drugs have to be evaluated when considering their clinical application, especially for breast cancer treatment.