Preparation and characterization of gellan gum/glucosamine/clioquinol film as oral cancer treatment patch

- The drug carriers for oral cancer therapy application were prepared by gellan gum and glucosamine.
- Anti-oral cancer potential of clioquinol (CQ) was confirmed by in vitro and in vivo test.
- The work would give scientists and doctors new insights into the use of oral cancer treatment patch in clinical practice.

To administer cancer drugs with improved convenience to patients and to enhance the bioavailability of cancer drugs for oral cancer therapy, this study prepared gellan gum/glucosamine/clioquinol (GG/GS/CQ) film as the oral cancer treatment patch. GG/GS/CQ film fabricated through the EDC-mediated coupling reactions (GG/GS/CQ/EDC film). The film of the physicochemical properties and drug release kinetics were studied. The effectiveness of GG/GS/CQ/EDC film as oral cancer treatment patch were evaluated with the animal model. The results confirmed that CQ can be incorporated via EDC-mediated covalent conjugation to gellan gum/glucosamine. Mechanical testing revealed that the maximum tensile strength and elongation percentage at break were 1.91 kgf/mm2 and 5.01% for GG/GS/CQ/EDC film. After a drug release experiment lasting 45 days, 86.8% of CQ was released from GG/GS/CQ/EDC film. The Huguchi model fit the GG/GS/CQ/EDC drug release data with high correlation coefficients (R2 = 0.9994, respectively). The effect of the CQ dose on oral cancer cells (OC-2) was tested, and the IC50 of CQ alone and CQ with 10 μM CuCl2 were 9.59 and 2.22 μM, respectively. The animal testing indicated that GG/GS/CQ/EDC film was decreased epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and suppress tumor progression. These findings provide insights into a possible use for GG/GS/CQ/EDC film for oral ca in clinical practice. The GG/GS/CQ/EDC film is suitable as the dressing for use in the treatment of early-stage cancer or as wound care after surgery in late-stage of oral cancer treatment.