Anti-MUC1 nanobody conjugated by chitosan nanoparticle with enhancement of anti-proliferation activity in breast cancer cell lines

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women. Antibodies are used to deliver a specific drug to the tumor area. Nanotechnology and monoclonal antibodies simultaneously together can be used for designing the targeted delivery systems. In this study, we investigated the conjugation of the Anti-MUC1 nanobody to the chitosan nanoparticle for improving the targeting efficacy of the antibody. Chitosan nanoparticles with a molecular weight of 8-10 kDa were synthesized by ionic gelation method attached to the Anti-MUC1 nanobody with NHS-EDC method. Then the characterization of conjugated forms was surveyed by UV-vis, FESEM, and DLS techniques. The effect of free Anti-MUC1 nanobody, and conjugated on the MCF7 cell line was investigated by the MTT method. The chitosan/anti-MUC1 Nano systems show more significant efficient than free Anti-MUC1 and inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells (P = 0.0023). Moreover, the chitosan nanoparticles did not show each cytotoxicity on MCF10 cells (P = 0.019). The study suggests that chitosan nanoparticles can be a high-potential candidate for the targeted delivery of MUC1 antibodies to breast cancer cells expressing a high level of MUC1. Moreover, it led to reducing the dosage used of antibodies to be applied.