Cytotoxic Evaluation of (2S)-5,7-Dihydroxy-6-prenylflavanone Derivatives Loaded PLGA Nanoparticles against MiaPaCa-2 Cells.

The search for new alternatives for the prevention and treatment of cancer is extremely important to minimize human mortality. Natural products are an alternative to chemical drugs, since they are a source of many potential compounds with anticancer properties. In the present study, the (2 S )-5,7-dihydroxy-6-prenylflavanone (semi-systematic name), also called (2 S )-5,7-dihydroxy-6-(3-methyl-2-buten-1-yl)-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-4 H -1-Benzopyran-4-one (CAS Name registered) ( 1 ) was isolated from Eysenhardtia platycarpa leaves. This flavanone 1 was considered as the lead compound to generate new cytotoxic derivatives 1a , 1b , 1c and 1d . These compounds 1 , 1a , 1b , 1c , and 1d were then loaded in nanosized drug delivery systems such as polymeric nanoparticles (NPs). Small homogeneous spherical shaped NPs were obtained. Cytotoxic activity of free compounds 1 , 1a , 1b , 1c , and 1d and encapsulated in polymeric NPs (NPs 1 , NPs 1a , NPs 1b , NPs 1c and NPs 1d ) were evaluated against the pancreatic cancer cell line MiaPaCa-2. The obtained results demonstrated that NPs 1a and NPs 1b exhibited optimal cytotoxicity, and an even higher improvement of the cytotoxic efficacy was exhibited with the encapsulation of 1a . Based on these results, NPs 1a were proposed as promising anticancer agent candidates.