Tumorectomy followed by
radiotherapy,
hormone, and
chemotherapy, are the current mainstays for
breast cancer treatment. However, these strategies have systemic toxicities and limited treatment outcomes. Hence, there is a crucial need for a novel controlled release delivery system for implantation following
tumor resection to effectively prevent recurrence. Here, we fabricated
polycaprolactone (PCL)-based electrospun nanofibers containing
piperine (PIP), known for chemopreventive and anticancer activities, and also evaluated the impact of
collagen (Coll) incorporation into the matrices. In addition to physicochemical characterization such as morphology, hydrophilicity, drug content, release properties, and mechanical behaviors, fabricated nanofibers were investigated in terms of cytotoxicity and involved mechanisms in MCF-7 and 4T1
breast tumor cell lines. In vivo antitumor study was performed in 4T1
tumor-bearing mice. PIP-PCL75-Coll25 nanofiber was chosen as the optimum formulation due to sustained PIP release, good mechanical performance, and superior cytotoxicity. Demonstrating no organ toxicity, animal studies confirmed the superiority of locally administered PIP-PCL75-Coll25 nanofiber in terms of inhibition of growth
tumor, induction of apoptosis, and reduction of cell proliferation compared to PIP
suspension, blank nanofiber, and the control. Taken together, we concluded that PIP-loaded nanofibers can be introduced as a promising treatment for implantation upon breast tumorectomy.