Controlled release of titanocene into the hybrid nanofibrous scaffolds to prevent the proliferation of breast cancer cells

Electrospun hybrid nanofibrous scaffolds have gained much importance in the field of tissue engineering and drug delivery applications owing to its multifaceted properties. In this study, the properties of composite polycaprolactone (PCL)/silk fibroin (SF) nanofibrous scaffolds was investigated as a potential scaffold for cell growth and also a drug eluting mat to control the proliferation of MCF-7 cells. Titanocene dichloride was chosen as the model drug to study its antitumor efficacy on MCF-7 cell lines. Fascinating properties relating to crystallization of silk fibroin and binding of drug has also been discussed for the controlled release of drugs. The presence of amino acid residues in silk fibroin plays a big role in the cell-scaffold interaction, the nature of drug binding and also its release characteristics to control the cell proliferation. Studies on material properties for the hybrid nanofibrous scaffolds showed interrelated changes in fiber diameter and mechanical behavior for the drug loaded nanofibers. Significant decrease in fiber diameters from 352 ± 52 nm to 281 ± 44.5 nm and sharp increase in tensile stress from 4.5 MPa to 50.3 MPa was observed for 0.03% drug loaded scaffolds with respect to PCL fibers. Cell viability and cell morphology study was performed to analyze the effect of different concentrations of titanocene dichloride loaded on PCL/silk fibroin nanofibrous scaffolds. Maximum cell viability inhibition percentage of change 26.93% was obtained for 0.03% titanocene with respect to 0.01% on day 3. The obtained results proved that the drug loaded hybrid mat to control the proliferation of MCF-7 cells at different time points and serve as a model for cancer therapy.

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