Theranostic Effect of Folic Acid Functionalized MIL‐100(Fe) for Delivery of Prodigiosin and Simultaneous Tracking‐Combating Breast Cancer

Abstract

The metal organic framework (MOF) member, MIL-100(Fe), is considered as attractive drug nanocarrier that may be due to the great porosity, colloidal stability, and biocompatibility. In the present study, the new electrochemical synthesis procedure was presented for MIL-100(Fe) building block, and secondly, folic acid (FA) was introduced to the structure for assessing its potential targeted ability to be entrapped by folic acid-positive breast cancer cells, MCF-7. Several techniques such as SEM, XRD, and FT-IR were used to characterize synthesized nanostructures. Both MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-100(Fe)/FA nanoparticles were between 50 to 200 nm with a slightly positive net charge with an area of 1350 and 831.84 m2/g, respectively. The prodigiosin (PG) is selected as a model drug for MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-100(Fe)/FA-targeted delivery owing to its natural fluorescence and cancer cell selectiveness. The loading capacity of both nanocarrier was around 40% with 93-97% loading efficacy. Moreover, the pH-sensitive prodigiosin release rate of MIL-100(Fe)@PG and MIL-100(Fe)/FA@PG showed that 69 to 73% of the drug was released after 24 hours in an acidic environment with around 20% unwanted leakage. The anticancer potential MIL-100(Fe)/FA cells showed the improvement of selective index (SI) from 3.21 to 12.48 which means that folic acid acts as an effective ligand. The study of cells treated with fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry analysis reveals the dependence of the receptor on the nanoparticle through endocytosis. Considering the effects of nanoparticles on healthy cells, MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-100(Fe)/FA nanoparticles can be introduced as targeted drug delivery systems for smart targeting breast cancer cells with minimal side effects.

Prodigiosin: a promising biomolecule with many potential biomedical applications

“…The selective index from 3.21 to 12.48 indicated that folic acid nanoparticles could improve the anticancer potential of PG. [ 140 ]…”

Functionalization of β-cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks with gelatin and glutamine for drug delivery of curcumin to cancerous cells

“…The exceptional porosity and high surface area of these structures, together with tuning and designing of a variety of MOFs due to infinite combination of metal nodes and organic ligands, tailorable pore size, biocompatibility and biodegradability, and ease of functionalization of organic ligands, led to the vast potential and application of ions utilized in the synthesis include p-block elements, transition metals, alkaline earth metals, alkaline metals, lanthanides, and actinides [ 7 ]. Diverse applications of MOFs including gas storage, adsorption, separation, ion exchange, molecular recognition, sensing and detection, optics, catalysis, electrocatalysis, photovoltaics, imaging, and drug delivery are introduced [ [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] ]. MOFs have been considered promising carriers in drug delivery systems, due to their high storage capacity and controlled release.…”

Nanoscale metal-organic frameworks for the delivery of nucleic acids to cancer cells

“…Hybrid nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (nanoMOFs) with large pore volumes and surface areas are a new class of versatile porous materials formed by the coordination of metal clusters and organic ligands ( Férey et al, 2005 ). More particularly, the biodegradable iron trimesate MIL-100(Fe) nanoMOFs (MIL stands for Materials of Institute Lavoisier) are considered among the most efficient materials as drug carriers ( Ettlinger et al, 2022 ) because of the following unique properties: 1) high drug loading capacity for drugs with different physicochemical properties ( Horcajada et al, 2009 ); 2) easily engineered multifunctional surfaces composed of targeting moieties ( Agostoni et al, 2015 ; Qiu et al, 2021 ; Mokhtarian et al, 2022 ); and 3) possibilities to conveniently attach fluorescent moieties for imaging purposes ( Li et al, 2020a ; Qiu et al, 2020b ).…”