Journal of Animal Science and Technology (JAST) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal publishing original research, review articles and notes in all fields of animal science. Topics covered by the journal include: genetics and breeding, physiology, nutrition of monogastric animals, nutrition of ruminants, animal products (milk, meat, eggs and their by-products) and their processing, grasslands and roughages, livestock environment, animal biotechnology, animal behavior and welfare.

Calcium carbonate has slowly paved its way into the field of nanomaterial research due to its inherent properties: biocompatibility, pH-sensitivity, and slow biodegradability. In our efforts to synthesize calcium carbonate nanoparticles (CSCaCO₃NP) from blood cockle shells (Anadara granosa), we developed a simple method to synthesize CSCaCO₃NP, and loaded them with gefitinib (GEF) and paclitaxel (PTXL) to produce mono drug-loaded GEF-CSCaCO₃NP, PTXL-CSCaCO₃NP, and dual drug-loaded GEF-PTXL-CSCaCO₃NP without usage of toxic chemicals. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results reveal that the drugs are bound to CSCaCO₃NP. Scanning electron microscopy studies reveal that the CSCaCO₃NP, GEF-CSCaCO₃NP, PTXL-CSCaCO₃NP, and GEF-PTXL-CSCaCO₃NP are almost spherical nanoparticles, with a diameter of 63.9 ± 22.3, 83.9 ± 28.2, 78.2 ± 26.4, and 87.2 ± 26.7 (nm), respectively. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and N₂ adsorption-desorption experiments revealed that the synthesized nanoparticles are negatively charged and mesoporous, with surface areas ranging from ~8 to 10 (m²/g). Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) confirms that the synthesized nanoparticles are aragonite. The CSCaCO₃NP show excellent alkalinization property in plasma simulating conditions and greater solubility in a moderately acidic pH medium. The release of drugs from the nanoparticles showed zero order kinetics with a slow and sustained release. Therefore, the physico-chemical characteristics and in vitro findings suggest that the drug loaded CSCaCO₃NP represent a promising drug delivery system to deliver GEF and PTXL against breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women, and in 2020, there were 684, 996 deaths due to this disease. Epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs) and their respective ligands have been blamed for the pathogenesis and resistance to treatment in specific breast cancer cases. With EGFR having four homologues: EGFR1, EGFR2, EGFR3, and EGFR4, in-depth understanding of EGFR biology led to the discovery of small-molecule inhibitors and antibodies against this receptor. Gefitinib (GEF), a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of EGFR1, possesses a vast potential for treatment against breast cancer and is supported by a multiplicity of experiments. Unfortunately, in clinical trials, GEF did not show the outcomes expected with complete response and disease progress. This is due to incomplete understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in EGFR signaling and endocrine sensitivity. Hence, additional in-depth experiments are needed regarding various molecular pathways and crosstalk pathways to comprehend GEF’s action mechanism thoroughly in breast cancer patients. In this review, the role of EGFR in the development and pathogenesis of breast cancer and the pharmacokinetics and pharmacotherapy of GEF for the treatment of breast cancer have been elaborated. Nanomedicines synthesized with GEF have shown positive experimental response, paving a promising path for GEF against breast cancer.

Calcium carbonate nanoparticles have salient properties, such as biocompatibility, pH responsiveness, and the ability to alkalinize a tumor, thereby reducing metastasis. A combination therapy regimen is normative for breast cancer, and besides its side effects, toxic vehicles are required for certain drugs. This study is aimed to transform the readily available Blood cockle shells (Anadara granosa) to calcium carbonate nanoparticles (CSCaCO₃NP), loading them with Gefitinib (GEF) and Paclitaxel (PTXL). Facile top-down synthesis of CSCaCO₃NP is comprised of grinding, sieving, and stirring with Tween 80, followed by filtration and finally dry milling for 120 h. A ratio of 1 + 0.5:25 of GEF+PTXL: CSCaCO₃NP in an equal admixture of DMSO and 0.05% Tween 80 buffer was used for drug loading. Loading content (%) and encapsulation efficiency (%) for GEF and PTXL in dual drug-loaded NP (GEF-PTXL-CSCaCO₃NP) was 1.98 ± 0.11, 50.01 ± 2.18 and 0.92 ± 0.01, 45.60 ± 0.32. Field emission scanning electron micrographs revealed that the nanoparticles were almost spherical with the average diameter (nm) measuring 63.96 ± 22.3 and 87.20 ± 26.66 for CSCaCO₃NP, and GEF-PTXL-CSCaCO₃NP, respectively. The Dynamic Light Scattering data gives the average diameter of CSCaCO₃NP and GEF-PTXL-CSCaCO₃NP as 179 ± 10.9 (nm), and 274 ± 23.22 (nm), and Zeta potential was −17 ± 1.15 (mV) and −10.30 ± 1.7 (mV), respectively. Fourier-transform Infrared spectroscopy proves that CSCaCO₃NP have been loaded with the drugs. X-Ray Diffraction data indicate that the aragonite phase is unaltered. N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms reveals that CSCaCO₃NP are mesoporous and that the surface area was reduced from 10.68 ± 0.22 to 9.88 ± 0.24 m²/g after drug loading. For the first time, this work will describe the process that enabled to synthesize CSCaCO₃NP, which was used as a carrier to load GEF and PTXL and its salient characteristics.