Send Orders for Reprints to reprints@benthamscience.ae Nanoscience & Nanotechnology-Asia, 2019, 9, 00-00 1 RESEARCH ARTICLE 2210-6812/19 $58.00+.00 © 2019 Bentham Science Publishers In Vitro Study on the Effect of Nanoparticles and Transfersomes as Targeted Drug Carrier for Cancer Karthikeyan Muthu 1,2, , Blessy Vijayakumar 1 and Thirumurugan Alagu 1,* 1 Department of Biotechnology, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore – 641049; 2 Department of Biotechnology, Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed to be University), Vallam, Thanjavur – 613403 A R T I C L E H I S T O R Y Received: May 22, 2018 Revised: June 27, 2018 Accepted: June 29, 2018 DOI: 10.2174/2210681208666180706125016 Abstract: Introduction: Cancer is the one of the current leading cause of death all over the world. Among the various emerging technologies, nanotechnology plays a prominent role in delivering the drug to the target region. Materials & Methods: Hence, in this study, the In vitro effect of doxorubicin adsorbed gold nanopar- ticles synthesized by Azadirachta Indica leaves extract as reducing agent and the doxorubicin en- trapped modified liposomes called transfersomes was compared over the cervical cancer cell line (HeLa cell lines). The synthesized gold nanoparticles were characterized using a UV-visible spectro- photometer, SEM analysis. Results: The UV-Visible spectrum showed the peak at 537nm and the incorporation of drug over the nanoparticles was conformed using FTIR and SEM analysis. The drug entrapment onto transfersomes was also characterized using FTIR and SEM analysis. When compared, the drug entrapped transfer- somes shows significant effect with the lowest concentration of drug (0.25 µg/mL) than the drug ad- sorbed nanoparticles. Conclusion: Hence, the transfersomes may also become the promising drug carrier in the future. Keywords: Gold nanoparticles, green synthesis, transfersomes, doxorubicin, cervical cancer. 1. INTRODUCTION The emerging nanotechnology and its products have re- served a significant place in the global market [1]. This tech- nology plays a key role in various fields including the medi- cal field as a drug carrier [2]. The materials at their nanoscale behave novel than the bulk material, which makes the nanoparticles to receive more attention in various applica- tions [3]. In current decade, the metallic nanoparticles syn- thesized from the noble metals act as a hopeful tool with a lot of valuable effects [4]. The various physical [5], chemical [6] and biological [7] methods are available for the synthesis of nanoparticles. Among the various methods available, green synthesis of nanoparticles using plant leaf extracts is the best and eco-friendly approach [8]. Recently few studies on silver, zinc oxide and nickel oxide nanoparticles synthe- sized by plant extracts have been reported [9-11]. The mechanism behind the bio-reduction of metals into nanopar- ticles by plant extracts [12] and also by microorganisms [13] was reported in various literature. *Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Biotechnology, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore – 641049; E-mail: biotechthiru@gmail.com Cervical cancer has high mortality rate which was caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Due to the abnormal growth of cells it has the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body [14]. Symptoms includes abnormal vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain, or pain during sexual intercourse [15]. Conventional treatment techniques like chemotherapy and radiotherapy will also have a lot of side effects [16]. Because of scarcity in proper screening tech- niques for cervical cancer, it is mandatory to develop an im- proved treatment facility for this disease [17]. Nanotechnology has a prominent role in targeted drug delivery [18], and very helpful for the diagnosis, treatment and development of HPV vaccines [19]. The existing Pap smear method (Papanicolaou test) of diagnosing cervical cancer only have 50% sensitivity, whereas nanotechnology has been used to detect HPV with greatly improved sensitiv- ity [20]. Since the nanoparticles at their nanoscale provide unique characteristics, it will make them suitable for formu- lating into a drug carrier [21]. Especially, the Enhanced Per- meability and Retention (EPR) effect [22] and the non- immunogenic property of gold nanoparticles [23] made them act as an effectively targeted drug carrier. Also, various nanoparticles tend to have a cytotoxic and antiproliferative