Biopolymer of zein/agarose hydrogels for efficient co-delivery of 5-fluorouracil/curcumin in human colorectal carcinoma treatment.

Targeted drug delivery is vital to minimize the side effects often associated with traditional cancer therapies. We carried out a study to develop a novel dual drug-loaded hybrid nanocarrier based on agarose/zein for colorectal cancer therapy. This system was designed to encapsulate in combination curcumin (Cur) and 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu), leveraging their synergistic effects. MTT assays demonstrated a 51% reduction in cancer cell viability (HCT116), Emphasizing the system's toxicity to cancer cells while maintaining compatibility with healthy cells (L929). The hybrid nanocarrier exhibited high drug loading efficiencies of 82% for curcumin and 82.25% for 5-Fu, with encapsulation efficiencies of 41% and 44%, respectively. Furthermore, the system demonstrated pH-responsive drug release and stable particle characteristics, with sizes ranging from 180 to 300 nm, confirmed through DLS and FESEM analysis. The co-delivery approach significantly mitigated the toxicity of free drugs to healthy cells, which further supports the potential of this system as option for cancer treatment. This project also explored the effect of combining herbal and chemical drugs in reducing the adverse side effects and enhancing the anticancer efficacy, offering valuable insight into designing dual-agent drug delivery systems aimed at precise cancer treatment.