Selective delivery of curcumin to breast cancer cells by self-targeting apoferritin nanocages with pH-responsive and low toxicity

Breast cancer is prevalent and diverse with significantly high incidence and mortality rates. Curcumin (Cur), a polyphenol component of turmeric, has been widely recognized as having strong anti-breast cancer activity. However, its anti-cancer efficiency is largely impaired by some of its concomitant negative properties, including its poor solubility, low cellular uptake, and severe reported side effects. Hence, the necessity arises to develop a novel low-toxic and high-efficiency targeting drug delivery system (DDS). In this study, we developed a pH-sensitive tumor self-targeting DDS (Cur@HFn) based on self-assembled HFn loaded with Cur, in which Cur was encapsulated into HFn cavity by using a disassembly/reassembly strategy, and the Cur@HFn was characterized by ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). A variety of breast cancer cell models were built to evaluate cytotoxicity, apoptosis, targeting properties, and uptake mechanism of the Cur@HFn. The pharmacodynamics was also evaluated in tumor (4T1) bearing mice after intravenous injection. In vitro release experiments showed that Cur@HFn is pH sensitive and shows sustained drug release under slightly acidic conditions. Compared with Cur, Cur@HFn has stronger cytotoxicity, cellular uptake, and targeting performance. Our study supported that Cur@HFn has a higher in vivo therapeutic effect and lower systemic toxicity. The safety evaluation results indicated that Cur@HFn has no hematotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and nephrotoxicity. The findings of the present study showed that the Cur@HFn has been successfully prepared and has potential application value in the treatment of breast cancer.