Combination of Anti-Diabetic Drug Metformin and Boswellic Acid Nanoparticles: A Novel Strategy for Pancreatic Cancer Therapy.

Pancreatic cancer has an infaust prognosis and is the fourth common cause of cancer related death in India. It is highly resistant to conventional treatment modalities such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. The association of pancreatic cancer and diabetes mellitus is explored in our study. Pancreatic cancer is more likely to occur in people who have diabetes than people devoid of it, which is supported by the observation that hyperglycaemia occurs at an early stage of pancreatic cancer and is indeed a risk factor. In the present study, we have demonstrated a synergistic relationship between metformin and boswellic acid nanoparticles with varying doses of boswellic acid nanoparticles and constant metformin (20 mM). The effect revealed increased synergism between metformin and boswellic acid nanoparticles through the inhibition of cell proliferation with an effect of 80% for the combination with 0.3 mg/mL and 0.4 mg/mL and a constant concentration of metformin. We examined the effect of combination on cell migration which revealed time dependent inhibitory effect on pancreatic cell line (MiaPaCa-2). Also, we found that the combinatorial approach significantly decreased colony formation and exhibited high rate of induction of apoptosis through DNA fragmentation in pancreatic cancer cells. In-vitro hemolysis confirmed the hemocompatibility of the combination therapy with metformin and boswellic acid nanoparticles. Flow cytometry based apoptosis assay and Caspase mediated apoptosis proved apoptosis mediated cell death. Further, the cells were analysed with mitochondrial membrane potential kit which revealed depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential due to apoptosis after treatment with drug combination. Hence, the combination approach proved to be a promising therapy towards pancreatic cancer.

Effect of Baliospermum montanum nanomedicine apoptosis induction and anti-migration of prostate cancer cells.

Prostate cancer has been diagnosed as the second most frequent and the sixth among the cancer causing deaths among men worldwide. There is a limited scope for the prevalent therapies as prostate cancer advances and they present adverse aftermaths that have put way for us to delve into naturally available anticancer agents. The main objective of the present work is to compile the advantages of ayurvedic herbal formulations with modern technology. Baliospermum montanum is a plant that is used in ayurveda for the treatment of cancer and the plant is studied to possess various constituents in it that are responsible for its anticancer activity. Stable nanoparticles of B. montanum were prepared from both the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of the plant and its cytotoxic effects were studied on prostate cancer and normal cell lines. Size analysis by DLS and SEM revealed the average size of nanoparticles prepared was 100±50 nm and 150±50 nm for the nanoparticles prepared from aqueous and ethanolic extract respectively. In vitro cytotoxicity showed a concentration and time dependent toxicity on prostate cancer cells with cell viability of 22% and 6% with maximum concentration of aqueous and ethanolic nanoparticles respectively, in 48 h. In vitro hemolysis assay confirmed that the prepared nanoparticles were compatible with blood with no occurrence of hemolysis. The nanoparticles showed a significant reduction in the colony forming ability and wound healing capacity of the prostate cancer cells. These studies hold the anti cancer potential of the B. montanum nanoparticles making it an important candidate for prostate cancer therapy.