Ovalbumin-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a nanocarrier for chlorogenic acid to promote the anticancer efficacy on MDA-MB-231 cells

Abstract

Chlorogenic acid (5-CQA), a phenolic acid abundant in plants and herbs, has various beneficial effects on human health. However, 5-CQA undergoes biotransformation during gastrointestinal digestion, which affects its biological accessibility. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to design ovalbumin (OVA)-coated citrate-stabilized Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (C-Fe₃O₄ NPs@OVA) as a nanocarrier for 5-CQA to enhance its anticancer capacity in MDA-MB-231 cells. C-Fe₃O₄ NPs@OVA were synthesized by a co-precipitation method and characterized using various spectroscopic analyses and the results were compared with those of Fe₃O₄ NPs and C-Fe₃O₄ NPs. HR-TEM, XRD, FT-IR, and XPS demonstrate the successful coating of OVA on C-Fe₃O₄ NPs. Emission and absorption spectral results exhibited the binding of OVA on C-Fe₃O₄ NPs mainly through a static quenching mechanism. C-Fe₃O₄ NPs@OVA exhibited higher drug loading and encapsulation efficiency compared with C-Fe₃O₄ NPs. Furthermore, the anticancer results of 5-CQA-loaded C-Fe₃O₄ NPs@OVA demonstrated that the nanocarrier enhanced the cytotoxicity (IC₅₀ of 5-CQA vs. 5-CQA-C-Fe3O4 NPs@OVA = 29 ± 1.21 vs. 21 ± 1.74 μg mL⁻¹) of 5-CQA towards MDA-MB-231 cells. The potential anticancer property of 5-CQA-loaded C-Fe₃O₄ NPs@OVA exhibited a sustained release profile of 5-CQA, which suggested that C-Fe₃O₄ NPs@OVA can be a better nanocarrier for 5-CQA than C-Fe₃O₄ NPs.