Nanoparticles of 4,7-dichloro-2-quinolinemethylacrylate-based copolymers and their cytotoxic effect on Human breast carcinoma cells

Abstract

In this article, an improved synthesis strategy of the potent anticancer compound 4,7-dichloro-2-quinolinemethanol(QM) and its acrylate ester 4,7-dichloro-2-quinolinemethylacrylate (AQM) are described. AQM is copolymerized using free-radicalpolymerization with N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (VP) and the copolymers obtained from different molar ratios of monomers are subjected tonanoprecipitation to produce suspensions of nanoparticles (NPs) in phosphate buffered saline (PBS). The smallest and stable NPs areprepared with the AQM-VP copolymers 45:55 and 40:60 (118.9 and 128.7 nm in diameter, respectively) at 1 mg mL¿1, and along withAQM and QM, are evaluated for their cytotoxic activity on MDA-MB-453 breast carcinoma cells using MTT bioassay. AQM and QMare highly cytotoxic (IC50: 19 and 41 ¿ M, respectively); however, the NPs are not cytotoxic in the range of the assayed concentrations.These results contribute to the search for new polymeric NPs with potential application as QM delivery systems for the treatment ofcancer or other diseases treatable with QM.