Tannic acid chitosan iron oxide nanocomposite for cervical cancer treatment

An innocuous and stimuli-responsive nano-vehicle was constructed from chitosan (CTS) and synthesized iron oxide (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles. Tannic acid (TNA) was selected as a drug model to attest to the function of CTS-Fe₃O₄ nano-vehicle in cervical cancer therapy. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) data disclosed that Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles could be favourably coated with CTS and TNA in thermally stable and superparamagnetic TNA-CTS-Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite (saturation magnetization of 41.1 emu/g) while the CTS-Fe₃O₄ nano-vehicle afforded a perfect microenvironment for efficient loading (10.5 %) and controlled release of TNA. Intriguingly, in vitro release profiles for TNA-CTS-Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite at pH 5 and 7.4 were governed properly with a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the pH value influenced the TNA release profiles with a cumulative release percentage of 90 % within 1892 min at a pH of 5 and 79 % within 3915 min at a pH of 7.4. What is more, the treatment with TNA-CTS-Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite with a mean diameter of 9 nm, substantially reduced the cell growth and induced apoptosis in the cervical cancer HeLa cells. Therefore, it was verified that the TNA-CTS-Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite could be a potential anticancer agent for the treatment of cervical cancer with distinctive physicochemical features.