CANCER AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES ARE TWO OF THE WORLD?S MAJOR PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEMS. GEMCITABINE (GEM) IS AN EFFECTIVE CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AGENT AGAINST SEVERAL TYPES OF CANCER. IN THIS STUDY, WE DEVELOPED MACROCAPSULES INCORPORATING GEM INTO A CHITOSAN MATRIX BLENDED WITH MAGNETITE AND ZEOLITE BY IONIC GELATION. PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION WAS PERFORMED USING HRTEM-ED, XRD, FESEM?EDS, FT-IR, TGA, ENCAPSULATION EFFICIENCY (%E.E.), AND RELEASE PROFILES AT PHS 7.4 AND 5.0. CELL VIABILITY TESTS AGAINST A549 AND H1299 CELL LINES, AND MICROBIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES AGAINST STAPHYLOCOCCAL STRAINS WERE PERFORMED. OUR RESULTS REVEALED THE SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTION OF HEMISPHERICAL CAPSULES WITH AN AVERAGE DIAMETER OF 1.22 MM, A ROUGH SURFACE, AND CHARACTERISTIC FT-IR MATERIAL INTERACTION BADS. THE MACROCAPSULES SHOWED A HIGH GEM ENCAPSULATION EFFICIENCY OF OVER 86% AND CONTROLLED RELEASE OVER 24 H. CELL VIABILITY ASSAYS REVEALED THAT SIMILAR CYTOTOXIC EFFECTS TO FREE GEM WERE ACHIEVED WITH A 45-FOLD LOWER GEM CONCENTRATION, SUGGESTING REDUCED DOSING REQUIREMENTS AND POTENTIALLY FEWER SIDE EFFECTS. ADDITIONALLY, THE MACROCAPSULES DEMONSTRATED POTENT ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY, REDUCING STAPHYLOCOCCUS EPIDERMIDIS GROWTH BY OVER 90%. THESE RESULTS HIGHLIGHT THE MACROCAPSULES DUAL ROLE AS A CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AND ANTIMICROBIAL AGENT, OFFERING A PROMISING STRATEGY FOR TREATING LUNG CANCER IN PATIENTS AT RISK OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES OR WHO ARE IMMUNOSUPPRESSED.

NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF CANCER-RELATED DEATHS WORLDWIDE. GEMCITABINE (GEM) IS AN EFFECTIVE CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AGENT FOR TREATING THIS AND OTHER CANCERS. HOWEVER, THE NON-SPECIFIC TOXICITY OF GEM HAS PROMPTED A SEARCH FOR NOVEL CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES. THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK WAS TO OBTAIN MICROENCAPSULATED SYSTEMS LOADED WITH GEM, NANOMAGNETITE AND MICROZEOLITE IN CHITOSAN MATRIX BY SPRAY DRYING IN ORDER TO CHARACTERISE THEM AND TEST THEIR ACTIVITY ON LUNG CANCER CELLS. CAPSULE CHARACTERIZATIONS SHOWED SPHERICAL NANO-IN-MICROPARTICLES MEASURING 1.91 ?M ON AVERAGE WITH A ROUGH SURFACE AND CHARACTERISTIC SIGNS OF MATERIAL INTERACTION BY TEM AND FESEM-EDS. THE INTERACTION AND LOADING OF NANO- AND MICROPARTICLES IN THE CHITOSAN MATRIX WAS EVIDENCED BY FT-IR. % E.E. WERE OBTAINED. GREATER THAN 99.00 % IN ALL MICROENCAPSULES AND THE RELEASE OF THE GEM WAS SLOW AND CONTROLLED AT PH 7.4 AND 5.0 UP TO 24 H. MAGNETIC MOBILITY WAS DEPENDENT ON THE CONCENTRATION OF NANOMAGNETITE IN THE FORMULATION AND CELL VIABILITY WAS LOWER THAN THE PURE GEM CONTROL (1 MG/ML) IN BOTH CELL LINES (A549 AND H1299). NANO-IN-MICROENCAPSULATED SYSTEMS SHOW GREAT POTENTIAL FOR INHALED DELIVERY OF GEMS FOR THE TREATMENT OF NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER.