2-Amino-2-deoxy-glucose conjugated cobalt ferrite magnetic nanoparticle (2DG-MNP) as a targeting agent for breast cancer cells

• 2DG labeling led to an increase in selective targeting of MNPs in all breast cells.
• 2DG labeled MNPs were internalized efficiently in all breast cell lines.
• 2DG-MNPs led to concentration dependent cytotoxicity in human breast cells.
• 2DG-MNPs induced concentration dependent apoptosis of human breast cells.
• Gene expression patterns of CYP1A1, CYP1B1 & GSTM3, GSTZ1 were changed by 2DG-MNPs.

In this study, 2-amino-2-deoxy-glucose (2DG) was conjugated to COOH modified cobalt ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (COOH–MNPs), which were designed to target tumor cells as a potential targetable drug/gene delivery agent for cancer treatment. According to our results, it is apparent that, 2DG labeled MNPs were internalized more efficiently than COOH–MNPs under the same conditions in all cell types (MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cancer and MCF-10A normal breast cells) (p < 0.001). Moreover, the highest amount of uptake was observed in MDA-MB-231, followed by MCF-7 and normal MCF-10A cells for both MNPs. The apoptotic effects of 2DG-MNPs were further evaluated, and it was found that apoptosis was not induced at low concentrations of 2DG-MNPs in all cell types, whereas dramatic cell death was observed at higher concentrations. In addition, the gene expression levels of four drug-metabolizing enzymes, two Phase I (CYP1A1, CYP1B1) and two Phase II (GSTM3, GSTZ1) were also increased with the high concentrations of 2DG-MNPs.