Zeynab Fotoohi - Department of Nanobiotechnology, Faculty of Biological Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Sanam Sadeghi Mohammadi - Department of Nanobiotechnology, Faculty of Biological Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Zahra Vaezi - Department of Bioactive compounds, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Science and Technologies, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Majid Sadeghizadeh - Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Hossein Naderi-Manesh - Department of Nanobiotechnology, Faculty of Biological Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

Breast cancer as one of the leading cause of death has been considered as a major research topic worldwide. Among the variety of factors related with breast cancer, estrogen plays a crucial role contributing in emergence and progression of this kind of cancer. Tamoxifen as an estrogen-receptor blocker has shown promising therapeutic results in regards to the defeating breast cancer. In recent years, nano potentiated combination therapy has shown significant improvement in cancer treatment and offers several advantages for the effective and safe delivery of the drug to the target site. Herein, we developed a co-delivery system to place tamoxifen next to curcumin in pH-sensitive Gemini nanocarrier, which will permit the combination of two hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs into the carrier. The synthesized Gemini nanocapsules were characterized for the average particle size, zeta potential, and release profile in different pH, UV and FTIR spectroscopy were also used to confirm the loaded drugs in nanocarriers. The curcumin@tamoxifen-Gemini surfactant formulations have an average size of ۲۳۶.۶۳ ± ۱۲.۸۱ nm and +۱۶.۰۵ mv in zeta potential. The encapsulation efficiency (EE) of curcumin and tamoxifen was ۷۱.۸۱ and ۷۴.۴۳ %, respectively. The in vitro drug release profile in different pH indicated ۶۰% release of curcumin and ۸۷% release of tamoxifen citrate within ۳ days and enhanced in the acidic environment (pH=۵). Also, this formulation (curcumin@tamoxifen-Gemini) was examined on (MDA-MB-۲۳۱) and (MCF-۷) breast cell lines. The results demonstrated that the simultaneous drug delivery by this nanocarrier had a synergistic inhibitory effect on the growth of breast cancer cell lines.

Breast cancer, Co-delivery, Combination therapy, Curcumin, Tamoxifen citrate