Microfluidic synthesised PEGylated ascorbic acid-conjugated silver nanocarriers effectively downregulate oncogenes in invasive ductal carcinoma cells.

AIM: We aim to formulate highly stabilised nanocarriers for the downregulation of oncogenes in IDC cells.

METHODS

A microfluidic system was operated for the synthesis of silver-tripolyphosphate nanoparticles (AgTPP-NPs) functionalised with polyethylene-glycol (PEG). They were characterised by UV-Vis spectroscopy, DLS, SEM, FTIR, and EDX. Biological evaluation included DPPH, MTT, clonogenesis, qRT-PCR, and western blot against MCF and MDA-MB-231.

RESULTS

AgTPP-NPs remained stable for 24 months, and particle size increased slightly from 78 ± 22nm to 88 ± 18nm over this period. PEGylation resulted in tuned (64 ± 15 nm) PEGylated ascorbic acid-conjugated-AgTPP (PAAT) nanocarriers, which have a significant (p < 0.0001) antioxidant property of 74.4% at 160 µg/mL (IC50=11.3 µg/mL). PAAT nanocarriers exhibited cytotoxicity of 81%. PAAT demonstrated a significant (p < 0.0001) downregulation of MYC and CCNE1 in IDC cells, validated by western blot analysis.

CONCLUSION

Our study highlights the long-term stability of AgTPP-NPs, and PEGylation enhances the efficacy of AgTPP-NPs in terms of cytotoxicity and downregulation of oncogenes in IDC cells.