Dual-phytochemical electrospun PLA–PCL nanofibers loaded with centella asiatica extract and curcumin for sustained anticancer and antimicrobial drug delivery

The increasing global burden of cancer and the dose-limiting toxicity associated with conventional chemotherapy have amplified interest in plant derived phytochemicals as safer and biocompatible alternatives which will significantly reduce the use of toxic chemicals, thereby necessitating systematic exploration of their anticancer potential and the development of advanced delivery systems. This manuscript presents the progress of a dual-phytochemical electrospun fibre system integrating Centella asiatica (CA) extract and curcumin (Cur) within a biodegradable polylactic acid–polycaprolactone (PLA–PCL) matrix for controlled and selective breast cancer therapy. The optimised PLA–PCL (90:10) formulation produced uniform, bead-free fibres with an average diameter of 0.11 µm, as confirmed by SEM and FTIR analyses indicating strong polymer–phytochemical compatibility. The CA: Cur (1:1) composite exhibited the highest antioxidant activity (87.13 ± 1.01% at 50 mg/mL), significantly superior to Cur alone (59.27 ± 1.08%, p < 0.0001), CA extract (80.30 ± 2.01%, p < 0.0001), and CA: Cur (10:1) (79.57 ± 1.40%, p < 0.0001), demonstrating synergistic enhancement, an enhanced swelling ratio (175.2 ± 3.4%), and a biphasic, diffusion-controlled drug release profile with 42.8 ± 2.1% cumulative release after 48 hours (R² > 0.92, n < 0.25). Cytotoxicity studies revealed anticancer activity against MCF-7, HT-29, HepG-2, while maintaining higher viability in HEK-293 normal cells. The results demonstrate that the synergistic combination of CA and Cur within a tunable PLA–PCL scaffold can provide a sustained, biocompatible, and selective anticancer drug delivery platform with potential applications in cancer therapy.