Capsaicin-Entangled Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Against Breast Cancer: A Theoretical and Experimental Approach

Conventional treatment strategies suffer from a lack of solubility, low bioavailability at the target site, a lack of target specificity, and indiscriminate drug distribution, all of which lead to drug resistance. Therefore, the present study aimed to deliver capsaicin into breast cancer cells through folic acid-conjugated capsaicin-loaded carboxylic acid-functionalised multiwalled carbon nanotubes (FA-CAP-COOHMWCNTs). FA-CAP-COOHMWCNTs was formulated and characterized by FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), SEM (Scanning electron microscopy), HR-TEM (High-resolution transmission electron microscopy), and XRD (X-ray diffraction) analysis. In silico studies demonstrated that the active molecule, capsaicin can strongly bind onto C-SRC kinase receptor to suppress cancer progression. The in vitro cellular viability of MCF-7 breast cancer cells after 24h treatment with 100 µg × mL^− 1 of FA-CAP-COOHMWCNTs was found to be 29.27 ± 2.59% and IC₅₀ value was observed to be 22.71 µg × mL^− 1. Subsequently, in vivo anticancer activity of FA-CAP-COOHMWCNTs was performed against 7,12-dimethylbenz(a) anthracene (DMBA)-induced breast cancer in female Wistar rats. After 21 days of treatment with FA-CAP-COOHMWCNTs, breast cancer-induced rats showed a significant reduction in mammary tumor size, and elevated levels of antioxidant enzymes in serum/breast tissue. The most powerful antioxidant effects were seen in the medium dose (5 mg × kg^− 1) of FA-CAP-COOHMWCNTs, which also caused tumors to shrink significantly, almost as much as the standard drug (doxorubicin). Histopathological studies also showed near-normal architecture of breast tissue. Altogether, it can be interpreted that FA-CAP-COOHMWCNTs have antiproliferative efficacy against breast tumor progression in breast cancer-induced rats.