Anticancer activity of fungal L-asparaginase conjugated with zinc oxide nanoparticles.

Demand for developing novel delivery system for cancer treatment has increased due to the side effects present in intravenous injection of L-asparaginase. Nanoparticles are used for delivering the drugs to its destination in cancer cure. Nanobiocomposite of zinc oxide nanoparticles conjugated with L-asparaginase was produced by Aspergillus terreus and was confirmed using maximum UV-Vis absorption at 340 nm in the present work.

Carbon nanoparticle from a natural source fabricated for folate receptor targeting, imaging and drug delivery application in A549 lung cancer cells.

There is an emerging need for the development of new anticancer nanocomposite which exhibits imaging properties and targeted drug delivery. In the present study, a nanobiocomposite was prepared, in this direction, which contains carbon nanoparticles (CNP), methotrexate (Mtx) and asparaginase (Asp) coupled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC). The prepared nanobiocomposite kills only the cancer cells due to the presence of Mtx which is a folic acid analogue and targets the cancer cells due to the over expression of folate receptors on their surface and apoptosis occurs due to the anticancer activity of enzyme asparaginase.