Nanoparticles based on biocompatible lipids as carriers to improve curcumin efficacy in ovarian cancer treatment

Loading of Curcumin intoLoading of Curcumin into Curcumin is a natural anti-cancer compound with proved efficacy on several human cancer cell lines. However, its clinical application has been limited due to its poor bioavailability. Nanoparticle-based drug delivery approaches could make curcumin dispersible in aqueous media, thus overtaking the limits of its low solubility. Here, we describe the preparation of Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLCs) containing curcumin in attempt to evaluate the antitumoral activity of curcumin, free or entrapped into NLCs, against ovarian cancer cells. The obtained curcumin-loaded NLCs exhibited a controlled release profile of entrapped drug and showed in vitro improved anti- cancer potential by clonogenic assays compared to free curcumin. . Further, curcumin-loaded NLCs showed the same mechanisms of action of free curcumin, including the induction of cellular apoptosis. The obtained results clearly suggest that the entrapment of curcumin into NLCs increases drug efficacy in vitro against ovarian cancer cells compared to free curcumin, indicating the potential use of NLCs as curcumin drug delivery systems.