Invitro study of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with adsorbed mitoxantrone (MTO) as a drug delivery system to treat breast cancer

Abstract

Mitoxantrone (MTO) is a well-known anticancer drug. In order to improve its therapeutic effect, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were studied in vitro as a drug delivery system. We performed a comparative analysis of the in vitro cytotoxicity, internalization and MTO loading capacity of MWCNTs in: (i) MDA 231, a breast cancer cell line, and (ii) NIH3T3, a non-neoplastic fibroblast cell line. MWCNT cytotoxicity was time- and dose-dependent for MDA 231, whereas NIH3T3 survived longer incubation times. A MWCNT dose of 0.4 μg mL⁻¹ free of cytotoxic effects was chosen for further experiments. MWCNTs internalization was evidenced by TEM. MTO release from MWCNTs showed linear kinetics over a 24 h period. For both cell types, MWCNT–MTO cytotoxic effects were time- and dose-dependent, and greatly improved with respect to the soluble drug at long incubation times. MTO delivery through MWCNTs is efficient in both cell types, without distinctions between cancer and non-neoplastic cells.