Antioxidant Properties and Redox-Modulating Activity of Chitosan and Its Derivatives: Biomaterials with Application in Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Many studies have shown that mitochondrial metabolism has a fundamental role in induction of carcinogenesis due to the influence of increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in all steps of oncogene transformation and cancer progression. It is widely accepted that the anticancer effect of conventional anticancer drugs is due to induction of oxidative stress and elevated intracellular levels of ROS, which alter the redox homeostasis of cancer cells. On the other hand, the harmful side effects of conventional anticancer chemotherapeutics are also due to increased production of ROS and disruption of redox homeostasis of normal cells and tissues. Therefore, there is a growing interest toward the development of natural antioxidant compounds from various sources, which could impact the redox state of cancer and normal cells by different pathways and could prevent damage from oxidant-mediated reactions. It is known that chitosan exhibits versatile biological properties, including biodegradability, biocompatibility, and a less toxic nature. Because of its antioxidant, antibacterial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and immunostimulatory activities, the biopolymer has been used in a wide variety of pharmaceutical, biomedical, food industry, health, and agricultural applications and has been classified as a new physiologically bioactive material.

Repositioning Natural Antioxidants for Therapeutic Applications in Tissue Engineering

“…Chitosan is an outstanding scaffold [ 61 ] because it is sustainable [ 62 ] and exerts antimicrobial [ 63 ] and immunomodulatory properties [ 64 ]. Not only does it possess intrinsic antioxidant capacity [ 65 ], but chitosan is also a good candidate for drug delivery [ 66 ], tissue engineering [ 67 ], and pharmaceutical engineering [ 67 ], and thus open to vast functionalization.…”

Versatile Use of Chitosan and Hyaluronan in Medicine

“…This charge resulted in chitosan’s electrostatic attachment to most body tissues which bear negatively charged surface matrices [ 5 , 6 ]. Chitosan and several of its derivatives have been widely used in cosmetics and in the field of medicine, including biomaterials for tissue-engineered scaffold and tissue repair, wound dressings, and biochemical separation systems [ 1 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Moreover, chitosan serves as a food preservative.…”

Chitosan propolis nanocomposite alone or in combination with apramycin: an alternative therapy for multidrug-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium in rabbits: in vitro and in vivo study

“…Chitosan applications are strongly related to it being obtainable from renewable sources along with its nontoxic, nonallergenic, biodegradable and biocompatible properties [12]. It also exerts diverse pharmacological activities, such as antimicrobial, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant [13], anti-hepatotoxic [14] and immunostimulatory effects [15]. The polycationic nature of chitosan nanoparticles enables them to interact with the bacterial surface, which has a negative charge, leading to disorganization of the bacterial cell wall, the release of bacterial contents, and finally cell death [11].…”