Formulation of Piperine Nanoparticles: In Vitro Breast Cancer Cell Line and In Vivo Evaluation

Piperine: an emerging biofactor with anticancer efficacy and therapeutic potential

Anticancer drug discovery needs serious attention to overcome the high mortality rate caused by cancer. There are still many obstacles to treating this disease, such as the high cost of chemotherapeutic drugs, the resulting side effects from the drug, and the occurrence of multidrug resistance. Herbaceous plants are a reservoir of natural compounds that can be anticancer drugs with novel mechanisms of action. Piperine, a bioactive compound derived from Piper species, is gaining attention due to its unique dual role in directly inhibiting tumor growth and enhancing the bioavailability of chemotherapeutic drugs. Unlike conventional treatments, Piperine exhibits a novel mechanism of action by modulating multiple signaling pathways, including apoptosis and autophagy, with low toxicity. Additionally, Piperine acts as a bioenhancer by improving the absorption and effectiveness of other anticancer agents, reducing the required dosage, and minimizing side effects. Therefore, this review aims to visualize a summary of Piperine sources, phytochemistry, chemical structure-anticancer activity relationship, anticancer activities of semi-synthetic derivatives, pharmacokinetic and bioavailability, in vitro and in vivo preclinical studies, mechanism of antitumor action, human clinical trials, toxicity, side effects, and safety of Piperine. References were collected from the Pubmed/MedLine database (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) with the following keywords: "Piperine anticancer," "Piperine derivatives," "Piperine antitumor mechanism" and "Piperine pharmacokinetic and bioavailability," after filter process by inclusion and exclusion criteria, 101 were selected from 444 articles. From 2013 to 2023, there were numerous studies regarding preclinical studies of Piperine of various cell lines, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, cervical cancer, gastric cancer, osteosarcoma, colon cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, ovarian cancer, leukemia, colorectal cancer, and hypopharyngeal carcinoma. In vivo, the anticancer study has also been conducted on some animal models, such as Ehrlich carcinoma-bearing mice, Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells-bearing Balbc mice, hepatocellular carcinoma-bearing Wistar rat, A375SM cells-bearing mice, A375P cells-bearing mice, SNU-16 cells-bearing BalbC mice, and HGC-27-bearing baby mice. Treatment with this compound leads to cell proliferation inhibition and induction of apoptosis. Piperine has been used for clinical trials of diseases, but no cancer patient report exists. Various semi-synthetic derivatives of Piperine show efficacy as an anticancer drug across multiple cell lines. Piperine shows promise for use in cancer clinical trials, either as a standalone treatment or as a bioenhancer. Its bioenhancer properties may enhance the efficacy of existing chemotherapeutic agents, providing a valuable foundation for developing new anticancer therapies.

Lipid-based nanocarriers for enhanced delivery of plant-derived bioactive molecules: a comprehensive review

Bioactive compounds derived from plants have been investigated for treating various pathological conditions. However, the utilization of these compounds has challenges such as instability, low solubility and bioavailability. To overcome these challenges, the encapsulation of bioactive molecules with in a novel nano carrier system enabling effective delivery and clinical translation has become essential. Lipid-based nanocarriers provide versatile platforms for encapsulating and delivering bioactive compounds and overcome the challenges. These novel carriers can improve solubility, stability, improved drug retention and therapeutic efficacy of plant derived bioactive compounds. The current review evaluates the challenges in delivery of plant bioactives and highlights the potential of various lipid-based nano carriers designed to improve its therapeutic efficacy.

Development of Statistically Optimized Piperine-Loaded Polymeric Nanoparticles for Breast Cancer: In Vitro Evaluation and Cell Culture Studies

Piperine (PPN) is a natural alkaloid derived from black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) and has garnered substantial attention for its potential in breast cancer therapy due to its diverse pharmacological properties. However, its highly lipophilic characteristics and poor dissolution in biological fluids limit its clinical application. Therefore, to overcome this limitation, we formulate and evaluate PPN-encapsulated polycaprolactone (PCL) nanoparticles (PPN-PCL-NPs). The nanoparticles were prepared by a single-step nanoprecipitation method and further optimized by a formulation design approach. The influence of selected independent variables PCL (X1), poloxamer 188 (P-188; X2), and stirring speed (SS; X3) were investigated on the particle size (PS), polydispersity index (PDI), and % encapsulation efficiency (EE). The selected optimized nanoparticles were further assessed for stability, in vitro release, and in vitro antibreast cancer activity in the MCF-7 cancer cell line. The PS, PDI, zeta potential, and % EE of the optimized PPN-PCL-NPs were observed to be 107.61 ± 5.28 nm, 0.136 ± 0.011, -20.42 ± 1.82 mV, and 79.53 ± 5.22%, respectively. The developed PPN-PCL-NPs were stable under different temperature conditions with insignificant changes in their pharmaceutical attributes. The optimized PPN-PCL-NPs showed a burst release for the first 6 h and later showed sustained release for 48 h. The PPN-PCL-NPs exhibit exceptional cytotoxic effects in MCF-7 breast tumor cells in comparison with the native PPN. Thus, the formulation of PPN-loaded PCL-NPs can be a promising approach for better therapeutic efficacy against breast cancer.

Piperine-loaded nanoparticles incorporated into hyaluronic acid/sodium alginate-based membranes for the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases

Piperine is an alkaloid mostly found in the fruits of several species of the Piper genus, and its anti-inflammatory potential is already known. However, its therapeutic applications still need to be better explored due to the low aqueous solubility of this active. To overcome this drawback, the objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of the nanoencapsulation of the compound as well as its incorporation into hyaluronic acid/alginate-based biomembranes. Polymeric nanoparticles composed of Eudragit S100 and Poloxamer 188 were obtained by the nanoprecipitation technique, obtaining spherical nanosized particles with an average diameter of 122.1 ± 2.0 nm, polydispersity index of 0.266, and encapsulation efficiency of 76.2 %. Hyaluronic acid/sodium alginate membranes were then prepared and characterized. Regarding permeation, a slow passage rate was observed until the initial 14 h, when an exponential increase in the recovered drug concentration began to occur. The in vivo assay showed a reduction in inflammation up to 43.6 %, and no cytotoxicity was observed. The results suggested the potential of the system developed for the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases.

Harnessing Lipid Polymer Hybrid Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oral Bioavailability of Thymoquinone: In Vitro and In Vivo Assessments

The clinical application of phytochemicals such as thymoquinone (THQ) is restricted due to their limited aqueous solubility and oral bioavailability. Developing mucoadhesive nanocarriers to deliver these natural compounds might provide new hope to enhance their oral bioavailability. Herein, this investigation aimed to develop THQ-loaded lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles (THQ-LPHNPs) based on natural polymer chitosan. THQ-LPHNPs were fabricated by the nanoprecipitation technique and optimized by the 3-factor 3-level Box−Behnken design. The optimized LPHNPs represented excellent properties for ideal THQ delivery for oral administration. The optimized THQ-LPHNPs revealed the particles size (PS), polydispersity index (PDI), entrapment efficiency (%EE), and zeta potential (ZP) of <200 nm, <0.25, >85%, and >25 mV, respectively. THQ-LPHNPs represented excellent stability in the gastrointestinal milieu and storage stability in different environmental conditions. THQ-LPHNPs represented almost similar release profiles in both gastric as well as intestinal media with the initial fast release for 4 h and after that a sustained release up to 48 h. Further, the optimized THQ-LPHNPs represent excellent mucin binding efficiency (>70%). Cytotoxicity study revealed much better anti-breast cancer activity of THQ-LPHNPs compared with free THQ against MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Moreover, ex vivo experiments revealed more than three times higher permeation from the intestine after THQ-LPHNPs administration compared to the conventional THQ suspension. Furthermore, the THQ-LPHNPs showed 4.74-fold enhanced bioavailability after oral administration in comparison with the conventional THQ suspension. Therefore, from the above outcomes, mucoadhesive LPHNPs might be suitable nano-scale carriers for enhanced oral bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy of highly lipophilic phytochemicals such as THQ.