Enhancing breast cancer treatment: Evaluating the efficacy of hyaluronic acid-coated tamoxifen-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles on MCF7 cells.

Introduction: Tamoxifen (TMX) shows promise in treating breast cancer, but it faces challenges such as poor solubility, instability, and incomplete release when targeting tumors. Additionally, TMX therapy's toxicity is a critical issue in breast cancer treatment. This study aimed to assess the impact of hyaluronic acid (HA)-coated TMX-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (HA-TMX-SLNs) on MCF7 breast cancer cells.

Methods: Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were prepared using hot homogenization. The HA-TMX-SLNs and TMX-SLNs were characterized and evaluated through transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Cytotoxicity was assessed using the MTT assay, and Western blot analysis was utilized to identify key factors in the cell cycle and apoptosis.

Results: The nanoparticles (HA-TMX-SLNs) demonstrated approximately 55% loading efficiency after 100 h. HA-TMX-SLNs exhibited lower cytotoxicity in MCF7 cells compared to other treatments. Significant decreases in expression levels of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4, Cyclin D1, CDK2, and Bcl2 were observed after treatment with HA-TMX-SLNs, along with an increase in cleaved/procaspase-7.

Discussion: The in vitro release study showed that HA-coated SLNs consistently released the drug into the media under controlled conditions. Furthermore, HA-TMX-SLNs exhibited cytotoxic effects, increasing apoptosis and inhibiting cancer cell proliferation. These findings suggest that HA-TMX-SLNs effectively deliver TMX to breast cancer cells.