Background: Despite numerous useful anticancer properties of curcumin, its utility is limited due to its hydrophobic structure. In this study, we investigated the comparative antiproliferative effect of PAMAM encapsulating curcumin with naked curcumin on the T47D breast cancer cell line.
Materials and methods: Cytotoxic effects of PAMAM dendrimers encapsulating curcumin and curcumin alone were investigated by MTT assay. After treating cells with different concentrations of both curcumin alone and curcumin encapsulated for 24h, telomerase activity was determined by TRAP assay.
Results: While PAMAM dendrimers encapsulating curcumin had no cytotoxicity on cancer cells, they decreased the IC50 for proliferation and also increased the inhibitory effect on telomerase activity.
Conclusions: Considering the non-toxicity in addition to effectiveness for enhancing curcumin anticancer properties, dendrimers could be considered good therapeutic vehicles for this hydrophobic agent.