Anticancer effects of doxorubicin-conjugated magnetite MXene/Callicarpa extract on MCF-7 breast cancer cell line

Cancer is the most dangerous disease and second leading cause of death worldwide. Doxorubicin (DOX) is the most effective chemotherapeutic agent used for treating cancers. DOX possesses the side effects and strong cytotoxicity. Thus, it is urgent to develop the bio-carriers for loading this drug. In this work, we reported a novel platform based on MXene functionalized with Callicarpa extract and iron oxide nanoparticles (EX-Fe₃O₄-MX) for loading and release of DOX at different times and pHs and revealing the cytotoxicity of DOX@EX-Fe₃O₄-MX on breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) by MTT assay. The Raman, UV–Vis, XRD and FT-IR spectroscopy and FE-SEM images revealed DOX onto EX-Fe₃O₄-MX hybrid. FE-SEM images showed Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles with main particle size of 34.7 ± 2.6 nm on MXene layers. The 100 ppm of EX-Fe₃O₄-MX and DOX@EX-Fe₃O₄-MX showed 0.91 ppm and 0.84 ppm phenols with DPPH radical scavenging of 86.84 % and 75.93 %, respectively. The DOX-efficient loading, 88 % (at pH 7.0 for 4 h), was seen on EX-Fe₃O₄-MX in comparison to MX and Fe₃O₄-MX due to the presence of extract phenolic groups. The behavior of DOX@EX-Fe₃O₄-MX hybrid provided a biphasic release pattern consisting of an initial burst release, followed by a sustained drug release. Upon the normal physiological pH 7.0, the DOX-release content was 24.6 % from the DOX@EX-Fe₃O₄-MX at 12 h, while 72.1 % of DOX was released at pH 4.0. The 30.5 % and 73.6 % contents of DOX could be released after 25 h at pH 7.0 and 4.0, respectively. Cytotoxicity tests assessed significant viability loss, 41 % and 22 % after 24 and 48 h exposure, respectively for 4 μg/mL of DOX@EX-Fe₃O₄-MX. The viability loss of DOX@EX-Fe₃O₄-MX was comparable to free DOX with IC50 of ∼1 μg/mL after 48 h. All these findings imply that EX-Fe₃O₄-MX carrier offers significant benefits for biomedical applications and the design DOX@EX-Fe₃O₄-MX based-hybrid exhibits strong anticancer effect because of its remarkable properties, large surface area, and synergistic effects.