Fabrication of Gold Nanoparticles for Targeted Drug Delivery in Breast Cancer: Synthesis, Characterization, And Cytotoxicity Study

Breast cancer is one of the major causes of death in women globally and the administration of conventional chemotherapy is usually hampered by systemic toxicity and non-specific distribution of drugs. Approaches based on nanotechnology, in particular, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), provide a promising platform to develop targeted drug delivery because they are nontoxic, easy to modify on the surface, and they can accumulate in tumors. The objective of this study was to synthesize AuNPs and determine its possible use as a doxorubicin delivery system in breast cancer treatment. Gold nanoparticles were prepared through the citrate reduction technique, characterized in terms of size, morphology and surface charge, and doxorubicin was conjugated to the nanoparticles. The drug-loading capacity and release profile were evaluated by in vitro studies and tumor regression and systemic toxicity were evaluated by in vivo in a breast cancer-induced rat model. These findings showed that the AuNP-doxorubicin formulation was able to attain good drug loading, sustained release, increased tumor targeting, and lower systemic side effects than the free drug administration. These results show that gold nanoparticles can be a useful nanocarriers system of targeted breast cancer therapy, with increased therapeutic effect and reduced side effects.