Development of levan-coated PIBCA nanoparticles and their antiproliferative activity against MDA-MB-231 and B16F10 cells

Polysaccharides have been described as a successful alternative in developing nanosystems to reach specific sites. Levan is an exopolysaccharide with several biological activities, including immunostimulant, blood plasma substitute, and drug action prolonging agent. The present work aimed to develop poly-isobutyl cyanoacrylate (PIBCA) nanoparticles coated levan (Np-Lev) and to verify its cytotoxicity in two cancer cell lines. Levan was obtained through the fermentation of ZAG 12 Zymomonas mobilis. The nanoparticles were prepared using the anionic emulsion polymerization technique and characterized in size, zeta potential, morphological analysis, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The cell lines MDA-MB-231 (metastatic breast cancer cells) and B16F10 (melanoma cells) were used to evaluate the antiproliferative activity and cellular uptake of Np-Lev. The technique of obtaining the levan allowed a higher yield than the reference methodology, achieving 71.4% more. The novel nanoparticles (Np-Lev) presented spherical shapes, size of 244 ± 2 nm with homogeneous distribution and zeta potential of −12 ± 1 mV. Characterization techniques, such as infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, confirmed the presence of levan in the nanoparticles. The thermogravimetric analysis results showed greater thermal resistance when compared to free levan. In addition, Np-Lev were more cytotoxic than levan in both cell lines. This toxicity may be related to the internalization of nanoparticles inside the cells since Np-Lev were captured by the cells, which could increase the activity of levan cytotoxicity. Thus, it was verified a substantial increase in levan yield, also that the levan produced could be used to prepare PIBCA nanoparticles, and finally these Np-Lev showed antiproliferative activity against breast cancer and melanoma cell lines. The results exposed here are of interest to explore levan potential, in addition to nanotechnology, as a promising nanosystem with various biological applications. Further studies are needed to understand the biological behavior of nanoparticles and assess their stability for future therapeutic application.