ZnO@PDA@Ag Nanocomposite-Mediated Delivery of 9-Bromonoscapine, an Anticancer Agent, for Enhanced Lung Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Lung cancer continues to be a global threat to mankind responsible for gigantic mortalities across international boundaries, underscoring the pressing need for improved therapeutic alternatives. Recently, multifunctional nanocomposites have developed as promising platforms for anticancer therapy, offering targeted drug delivery and better intrinsic therapeutic properties owing to enhanced solubility, stability, and targeted release of hydrophobic drugs. In the present work, a biocompatible Silver-modified PDA-coated zinc oxide nanocomposite was synthesized and loaded with the hydrophobic anticancer ‘9-bromonoscapine’ drug (9-Br-Nos) to develop ‘ZnO@PDA@Ag@9-Br-Nos’ nanocomposite for lung cancer treatment. The characterization of the nanocomposites was done using techniques namely DLS, TEM, Zeta Potential, FESEM-EDX, TGA, PXRD, FT-IR, which confirmed the nanocomposite’s size, charge, stability, and functional integrity. Moreover, drug loading and release were quantified via high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), demonstrating an efficient 69.4% drug loading and sustained release of 9-Br-Nos drug at physiological pH 7.4 and enhanced release at acidic pH 5.5. The in vitro cytotoxicity studies revealed that ZnO@PDA@Ag@9-Br-Nos exhibited an IC50 of 33.51±4.54 µg/mL against H1299 lung cancer cells, while cytotoxicity tests on HEK-293 normal cells and hemocompatibility assay on human erythrocytes confirmed its biocompatibility and non-toxicity to healthy cells. These findings collectively demonstrate that ZnO@PDA@Ag@9-Br-Nos is an effective nanocarrier for hydrophobic drug delivery and shows improved therapeutic promise in the treatment of lung cancer.