Cytotoxic and Apoptotic Effects of Olive Leaf Extract Chitosan Nanoparticles on Breast Cancer MCF-7 and Lung Cancer A549 Cells

Abstract

I. Background Chitosan, which is a biocompatible and nontoxic material, is predominantly used as a polymer having the ability to nanoparticle formation. In this work, we immobilized olive leaf extract (OLE) with chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs), and elaborately characterized the OLE-CNPs. Also, the cytotoxic influence, the cell cycle distribution, and apoptosis stage of OLE and OLE-CNPs were analyzed on lung carcinoma (A549) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7). II. Methods and Results OLE-CNPs were characterized by Zetasizer Nano-ZS and FT-IR Spectrometer. The cytotoxic effects of OLE-CNPs were performed by MTT assay, and cell cycle distribution and apoptotic effects of OLE-CNPs were carried out by using flow cytometer. The loading capacity and the size of OLE-loaded nanoparticles were found as 97.5% and about 100 nm, respectively, in the optimum conditions. In addition, OLE-CNPs were characterized by unique FTIR peaks and morphological display compared to the CNPs. In vitro cytotoxic assay indicated that IC50 values of OLE-CNPs were determined as 540 µg/mL for A549 and 810 µg/mL for MCF-7. The treatment of both A549 and MCF-7 with OLE-CNPs caused the highest cell arrest in G0/G1 in a dose-independent manner. OLE-CNPs affected cell cycle distribution different from free OLE treatment in both cancer cells. A549 and MCF-7 cells were predominantly found in the late apoptosis and necrosis phase, respectively, upon treatment of 1000 µM OLE-CNPs. III. Conclusions Our results suggest that CNPs enhance bioavailability OLE as nutraceuticals in cancer and OLE-CNPs might be offered as supplements for cancer therapy.