Lauric acid is a green derivate that is abundant in some seeds such as coconut oil where it represents the most relevant fatty acid. Some studies have emphasized its anticancer effect due to apoptosis induction. In addition, the lauric acid is a Phase Change Material having a melting temperature of about 43.2 °C: this property makes it a powerful tool in cancer treatment by hyperthermal stress, generally induced at 43 °C. However, the direct use of lauric acid can have some controversial effects, and it can undergo degradation phenomena in the extracellular environment. For this reason, we have encapsulated lauric acid in a silica shell with a one-step and reproducible synthetic route in order to obtain a monodispersed SiO2@LA NPs with a good encapsulation efficiency. We have used these NPs to expose breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7) at different concentrations in combination with hyperthermal treatment. Uptake, viability, oxidative stress induction, caspases levels, and morphometric parameters were analyzed. These nanovectors showed double action in anticancer treatments thanks to the synergic effect of temperature and lauric acid activity.
Keywords: breast cancer; hyperthermal therapy; lauric acid; nanoencapsulation.