Selective cytotoxicity of curcumin loaded twin-base linker rosette nanotubes towards osteosarcoma than healthy osteoblasts

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone cancer that arises from mesenchymal cells and exhibits malignant osteoblastic differentiation. Curcumin has been reported to have a selective anti-cancer effect on osteosarcoma cells ^[1]. However, its bioavailability is limited by low solubility in water and instability in an alkaline solution ^[2]. Twin-base linker rosette nanotubes (TBL) could self-assemble in an aqueous solution by forming 36 hydrogen bonds ^[3]. With its surface functionalized by hydrophilic peptides and a hollow hydrophobic channel, TBL could be a potential drug carrier that enhances solubility of a hydrophobic drug. In this study, a TBL-curcumin complex was formed in deionized water, and characterized by transmission electron microscopy. The cytotoxicity of a TBL-curcumin complex was also tested and compared with pure curcumin dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The results showed that the diameter of the TBL nanotube increased in some sections after the drug loading process, and the cytotoxicity of the TBL-curcumin complex was also selective to osteosarcoma cells but lower than that of pure curcumin.