Autor(es):
Pinto, Maria Beatriz ; Pires, Patrícia C. ; Calhelha, Ricardo C. ; Silva, Ana Rita ; Sousa, Maria João ; Vilas-Boas, Miguel ; Falcão, Soraia ; Veiga, Francisco ; Makvandi, Pooyan ; Paiva-Santos, Ana Cláudia
Data: 2024
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/29956
Origem: Biblioteca Digital do IPB
Projeto/bolsa:
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/3599-PPCDT/2022.05270.PTDC/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDB%2F00690%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDP%2F00690%2F2020/PT;
Assunto(s): Anti-inflammatory; Anticancer; Antitumor; Bee venom; In vitro; Nanosystems; Natural compounds; Niosomes
Descrição
Despite past efforts towards therapeutical innovation, cancer remains a highly incident and lethal disease, with current treatments lacking efficiency and leading to severe side effects. Hence, it is imperative to develop new, more efficient, and safer therapies. Bee venom has proven to have multiple and synergistic bioactivities, including antitumor effects. Nevertheless, some toxic effects have been associated with its administration. To tackle these issues, in this work, bee venom-loaded niosomes were developed, for cancer treatment. The vesicles had a small (150 nm) and homogeneous (polydispersity index of 0.162) particle size, and revealed good therapeutic efficacy in in vitro gastric, colorectal, breast, lung, and cervical cancer models (inhibitory concentrations between 12.37 ng/mL and 14.72 ng/mL). Additionally, they also revealed substantial anti-inflammatory activity (inhibitory concentration of 28.98 ng/mL), effects complementary to direct antitumor activity. Niosome safety was also assessed, both in vitro (skin, liver, and kidney cells) and ex vivo (hen’s egg chorioallantoic membrane), and results showed that compound encapsulation increased its safety. Hence, small, and homogeneous bee venom-loaded niosomes were successfully developed, with substantial anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects, making them potentially promising primary or adjuvant cancer therapies. Future research should focus on evaluating the potential of the developed platform in in vivo models.
The present study was supported by the Research and Development Project grant 2022. 05270.PTDC, national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC), CIMO funds (UIDB/00690/2020 and UIDP/ 00690/2020) and SusTEC funds (LA/P/0007/2021), supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia I.P. (FCT, Portugal). The authors are also grateful to Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia I.P. (FCT, Portugal) for contracts’ financial support through the institutional scientific employment program-contract for Soraia I. Falcão and Ricardo C. Calhelha.
