Bi-faceted delivery of phytochemicals through chitosan nanoparticles impregnated nanofibers for cancer therapeutics

Drug delivery through nanotechnological approaches has predominantly gained significance owing to the enhanced bioavailability, stability and targeted sequel. Multiple drug delivery is also on its stride to achieve holistic therapeutic regime. In our quest for such a treatment for cancer we selected two phyto-chemicals namely resveratrol (RS) and ferulic acid (FA) that have gained wide attention in the field of medicine due to their array of properties. Albeit their multifaceted application their therapeutic potential is mired due to its physicochemical instability and low bioavailability. Therefore, in the present study combinatorial effect of these compounds in cancer therapeutics have been scrutinized by fabricating chitosan nanoparticle loaded polycaprolactone nanofibers for delivering RS and FA. The materials were physico-chemical characterized. The nanoparticle incorporation within the nanofibers was corroborated through FITC tagging. The anti-cancer effect of drug loaded nanofibers were studied using A431 cells which displayed 30% and 50% reduction in the cell viability when treated with nanoparticles and nanofibrous scaffold. In congruence, the anti-angiogenic potential of the scaffold was elucidated using Chick chorioallantoic membrane assay and aortic ring assay. Thus, the nanofibrous delivery system opens up new venue in the field of cancer therapeutics with reduced side effects and efficient cancer targeting. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.