ZnO@PDA@Ag nanocomposite-mediated delivery of 9-bromonoscapine, an anticancer agent, for enhanced lung cancer therapy

Lung cancer continues to exterminate millions of lives each year, underscoring the pressing need for improved therapeutic alternatives. Recently, multifunctional nanocomposites have developed as promising platforms for anticancer therapy, offering targeted drug delivery and better intrinsic therapeutic properties owing to enhance solubility, stability, and targeted release of hydrophobic drugs. In the present work, a biocompatible Silver-modified PDA-coated zinc oxide nanocomposite was synthesized and loaded with the hydrophobic anticancer ‘9-bromonoscapine’ drug (9-Br-Nos) to develop ‘ZnO@PDA@Ag@9-Br-Nos’ nanocomposite for lung cancer treatment. The characterization of the nanocomposites was done using techniques namely DLS, TEM, Zeta Potential, FESEM-EDX, TGA, PXRD, FT-IR, which confirmed the nanocomposite’s size, charge, stability, and functional integrity. Moreover, drug loading and release were quantified via high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), demonstrating an efficient 69.4% drug loading and sustained release of 9-Br-Nos drug at physiological pH 7.4. The in vitro cytotoxicity studies revealed that ZnO@PDA@Ag@9-Br-Nos exhibited an IC50 of 33.51±4.54 µg/mL against H1299 lung cancer cells, while cytotoxicity tests on HEK-293 normal cells and hemocompatibility assay on human erythrocytes confirmed its biocompatibility and non-toxicity to healthy cells. These findings collectively demonstrate that ZnO@PDA@Ag@9-Br-Nos is a highly effective nanocarrier for hydrophobic drug delivery and shows great therapeutic promise in the treatment of lung cancer. Importantly, this nanosystem can be investigated further as a versatile platform for safe, efficient, and targeted cancer treatment in subsequent translational applications.