ArticlePolymers2023
Polyethyleneglycol-Betulinic Acid (PEG-BA) Polymer-Drug Conjugate Induces Apoptosis and Antioxidation in a Biological Model of Pancreatic Cancer.
Article in Polymers, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- pH-Sensitive Multiliposomal Containers for Encapsulation and Rapid Release of Bioactive Substances.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Recent Developments in Nanotechnology and Immunotherapy for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer.Current pharmaceutical biotechnology · 2025Review
- Advanced Application of Polymer Nanocarriers in Delivery of Active Ingredients from Traditional Chinese Medicines.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Tuning of the Anti-Breast Cancer Activity of Betulinic Acid via Its Conversion to Ionic Liquids.Pharmaceutics · 2024Article
- Advanced application of nanotechnology in active constituents of Traditional Chinese Medicines.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2023Review
- Therapeutic Approaches in Pancreatic Cancer: Recent Updates.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Drug Delivery Strategies for the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer.Pharmaceutics · 2023Review
- Betulinic acid-mediating miRNA-365 inhibited the progression of pancreatic cancer.Oncology research · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most aggressive solid malignancies with poor treatment response and low survival rates. Herbal medicines such as betulinic acid (BA) have shown potential in treating various solid tumours, but with limitations that can be circumvented by polymer-drug conjugation. Polyethylene glycol-BA (PEG-BA) polymer-drug conjugate has previously shown selective anticancer activity against PC cells. Here, we elucidate the mechanism of cell death and the cell death pathway, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of PEG-BA. PEG-BA induced apoptotic cell death by arresting MIA-PaCa-2 cells in the Sub-G1 phase of the cell cycle compared with BA and untreated cells (39.50 ± 5.32% > 19.63 ± 4.49% > 4.57 ± 0.82%). NFκB/p65 protein expression was moderately increased by PEG-BA (2.70 vs. 3.09 ± 0.42 ng/mL; p = 0.1521). However, significant (p < 0.05) overexpression of the proapoptotic genes TNF (23.72 ± 1.03) and CASPASE 3 (12,059.98 ± 1.74) compared with untreated cells was notable. The antioxidant potential of PEG-BA was greater (IC50 = 15.59 ± 0.64 µM) compared with ascorbic acid (25.58 ± 0.44 µM) and BA-only (>100 µM) and further confirmed with the improved reduction of hydroperoxide levels compared with BA-only (518.80 ± 25.53 µM vs. 542.43 ± 9.70 µM). In conclusion, PEG-BA activated both the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways of apoptosis and improved antioxidant activities in PC cells, suggesting enhanced anticancer activity upon conjugation.
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