Synergistic anti-cancer activity of etoposide drug loaded calcium aluminium layered double hydroxide nanoconjugate for possible application in non small cell lung carcinoma

The present research reports a facile synthesis of bare phase pure CaAl-LDH nanoparticle (sample A) and intercalation of anti-cancer drug etoposide (ETO) into the same via simple anion exchange technique to obtain ETO loaded CaAl-LDH (sample B). The basal spacing (d002) of sample A was increased from 8.5764 A to 17.18 A upon intercalation of ETO. Further ETO loading was found to be 27.72% as estimated by UV–Vis spectrophotometer. The release profile of ETO from sample B in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) at pH 7.4 follows quasi-Fickian diffusion phenomenon in Korsmeyer–Peppas kinetics model. In vitro cell viability was undertaken using A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma) cell line in a dose dependent manner to determine the synergistic anti-cancer potential of sample B. It was observed that at an equivalent dose, the cancer cell viability was substantially reduced, in case of sample B compared to sample A and bare etoposide drug, respectively, which was further corroborated by cell proliferation/migration assay. The cellular uptake using A549 cell line showed an increasing trend with increasing time period (11.67% and 19.30% at 24 h and 72 h) respectively, confirmed by flow cytometry, exhibiting a substantial reduction of CAMKIIα protein for sample A and sample B to 110.52 pg/ml and 95.14 pg/ml respectively. Results also showed significant down regulation of SOD gene activity. All the above results exhibited the synergistic anti-cancer potential of sample B for possible application in the management of non small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).