QUERCETIN-LOADED MAGNETIC NANOPARTICLES: A PROMISING TOOL FOR ANTITUMOR TREATMENT IN BREAST CANCER CELLS

TIBURZI SILVINA; LEZCANO VIRGINIA; PRINCIPE GABRIEL; GABRIELA MONTIEL SCHNEIDER; LASSALLE, VERONICA L.; VERONICA GONZALEZ PARDO

Congreso; LXVIII Reunión Anual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC),; 2023

Quercetin (QUE) is a phytoestrogen with known antitumor effects.Its hydrophobicity and low bioavailability are a limitation to be usedas an anticancer drug. One strategy to overcome this difficulty isloading QUE in a non-toxic nanocarrier. The aim of this study wasto investigate the biological activity of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles coated with polyethylene glycol (Mag@PEG) loaded with QUEin a human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). Our previous researchhas shown that unloaded Mag@PEG (0-150 µg mL-1) are not cytotoxic for MCF-7 cells and can be targeted to a specific area when anexternal magnetic field is applied. To continue these studies, furtheranalysis of MCF-7 3D cultures evidenced the presence of Mag@PEG inside the spheroid by histological techniques. Then, Mag@PEG were loaded with QUE by adding an alcoholic solution of thepolyphenol to an aqueous dispersion of Mag@PEG under stirringinducing the surface adsorption of the drug. The incorporation ofQUE was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy and quantified by UV-visible spectroscopy. Cytotoxic studies in MCF-7 cells incubated withMag@PEG@QUE at a concentration equivalent to the IC50 of freeQUE (75 µM) for 48 h showed that Mag@PEG@QUE significantlydecreased the cell proliferation by crystal violet staining (p