STUDY OF ENCAPSULATION OF ANTINEOPLASTIC DRUGS IN NANOSTRUCTURED SYSTEMS: STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION AND SYNERGISTIC EFFECT OF DRUGS

Nanotechnology field has been growing in the past decades, improving studies of several compounds. Among these technologies, the drug delivery systems are being largely used, whose objective is increase pharmaceutical substances efficacy, and this may includes a more selective distribution within the sick organism, the molecules liberation time fine tuning and/or attenuation of adverse effects. To make this possible, drugs are nanoencapsulated within synthetic origin or biodegradable structures, necessarily compatible with the active principle. Among the nanoparticles responsible for this systems are cubosomes, which are complex nanostructures that successfully encapsulate hydrophilic and hydrophobic actives. The main objective is to study the effect of the antineoplasic actives against cervical cancer cells (HeLa) and human epidermal keratinocyte (HaCat), the synergic/antagonic effects of drugs, cubosomes synthesis and characterization for further encapsulation of actives inside them. The chosen molecules are vemurafenib and curcumin. In this research project, we will broaden knowledge of antineoplastic activity of these compounds, testing them on HeLa and HaCat cells, quantifying the post-exposure cell viability. The cubosomes were synthesized with phytantriol and tested by dynamic light scattering (DLS), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), small angle x-ray scattering, cell viability test, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), release and encapsulation assay.