Formulation and Evaluation of Ligand Appended Lipid Nanoparticulate Systems for Oral Delivery of Anti-Cancer Agents

Abstract

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. Toxicity of anticancer drugs towards normal cells is one of the major concern hampering the effective chemotherapy. Artemether (ART) has been reported to possess anticancer activity and able to enhance anticancer potential of chemotherapy drugs. The oral bioavailability of paclitaxel (PTX), which is an effective drug in NSCLC, is limited due to being a substrate of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), multidrug ef flux transporter in the intestine. Marketed preparations of PTX are associated with numerous dose related toxicities. The aim of present investigation is to develop folate appended PEGylated solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) of PTX (FPS) and ART (FAS). MTT assays revealed better cytotoxicity of FPS when given in combination with FAS on human lung cancer cell line H-1299, as compared to pure drugs, unconjugated SLNs and FPS alone. The cellular uptake of FPS and FAS was confirmed by fluorescence imaging and flow cytometric analysis. In vivo pharmacokinetic study revealed better absorption and long circulation of FPS and FAS, which further leads to increased relative bioavailability of drugs (13.81 folds and 7.07 folds for PTX and ART, respectively) as compared to their solutions counterpart. In vivo pharmacodynamic study confirmed tumor regression of developed SLNs formulations, which was observed highest when used in combination of FPS and FAS. Serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), SGOT, albumin and total protein levels revealed that formulated FPS and FAS do not exhibit any renal and hepatic toxicity. Additionally, novel formulation H1 of PTX (H1P) and of ART (H1A) was developed, the combination of which has been proved to be better than the combination of formulations FPS and FAS. Thus, it can be concluded that by administering ART as SLNs formulation along with PTX as SLNs via oral route, anticancer potential of PTX was improved without any toxicity (both renal and hepatic), which indicate the ability of the developed formulations to reduce dose related toxicity of PTX.