BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to formulate, characterize and conduct in vitro cytotoxicity of 5-fluorouracil loaded polymeric electrospun nanofibers for the treatment of skin cancer. The patents on electrospun nanofibers (US9393216B2), (US14146252), (WO2015003155A1) etc. helped in the selection of polymers and method for the preparation of nanofibers. METHODS In the present study, the fabrication of nanofibers was done using a blend of chitosan with polyvinyl alcohol and processed using the electrospinning technique. 5-fluorouracil with known chemotherapeutic potential in the treatment of skin cancer was used as a drug carrier. 24-1 fractional factorial screening design was employed to study the effect of independent variables like the concentration of the polymeric solution, applied voltage (kV), distance (cm), flow rate (ml / hr) on dependent variables like % entrapment efficiency and fiber diameter. RESULTS Scanning electron microscopy was used to characterize fiber diameter and morphology. Results showed that the fiber diameter of all batches was found in the range of 100-200 nm. The optimized batch results showed the fiber diameter of 162.7 nm with uniform fibers. The tensile strength obtained was 190±37 Mpa. Further in vitro and ex vivo drug release profile suggested a controlled release mechanism for an extended period of 24 hr. The 5-fluorouracil loaded electrospun nanofibers were found to decrease cell viability up to ≥50% over 24 hr, with the number of cells dropping by ~ 10% over 48 hr. As the cell viability was affected by the release of 5-fluorouracil, we believe that electrospun nanofibers are a promising drug delivery system for the treatment of Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) skin cancer. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate the possibility of delivering 5-Fluorouracil loaded electrospun nanofiber to skin with enhanced encapsulation efficiency indicating the effectiveness of the formulation for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma type of skin cancer.

中文翻译：

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5-氟尿嘧啶负载型聚合物电纺纳米纤维的配制，表征和体外细胞毒性，用于治疗皮肤癌。

背景技术本研究的目的是配制，表征并进行5-氟尿嘧啶负载的聚合物电纺纳米纤维的体外细胞毒性治疗皮肤癌。关于电纺纳米纤维的专利（US9393216B2），（US14146252），（WO2015003155A1）等有助于聚合物的选择和制备纳米纤维的方法。方法在本研究中，使用壳聚糖与聚乙烯醇的混合物完成了纳米纤维的制造，并使用静电纺丝技术对其进行了处理。在皮肤癌的治疗中具有已知化学治疗潜力的5-氟尿嘧啶被用作药物载体。采用24-1分数阶乘筛选设计来研究独立变量的影响，例如聚合物溶液的浓度，施加电压（kV），距离（cm），流速（毫升/小时）取决于诸如％包封率和纤维直径的因变量。结果使用扫描电子显微镜表征纤维直径和形态。结果表明，所有批次的纤维直径均在100-200 nm范围内。优化的批处理结果显示纤维直径为162.7 nm，纤维均匀。获得的拉伸强度为190±37Mpa。进一步的体外和离体药物释放曲线表明控释机制可延长24小时。发现载有5-氟尿嘧啶的电纺纳米纤维可在24小时内将细胞活力降低至≥50％，而细胞数量在48小时内下降约10％。由于细胞活力受5-氟尿嘧啶释放的影响，我们认为电纺纳米纤维是用于治疗基底细胞癌（BCC）皮肤癌的有前途的药物递送系统。结论这些结果证明了以增强的包封效率将5-氟尿嘧啶负载的电纺丝纳米纤维递送至皮肤的可能性，表明该制剂对于治疗基底细胞癌类型的皮肤癌是有效的。