Complex polymeric nanomicelles co-delivering doxorubicin and dimethoxycurcumin for cancer chemotherapy.

Abstract

Combinational therapy is a new trend in medical sciences to achieve a maximum therapeutic response of the drugs with a comparatively low incidence of severe adverse effects. To overcome the challenges of conventional formulations for cancer chemotherapy, a polymer-based complex nanomicellar system, namely CPM-DD, was developed co-delivering the anti-cancer agent doxorubicin (DOX) and potent antioxidant dimethoxycurcumin (DiMC). The optimal mass ratio of DOX/DiMC in CPM-DD was determined as 1:6 due to the synergistic antiproliferative effect from in vitro cytotoxicity assay, while the biocompatible diblock copolymer of mPEG2000-PLA5000 was selected for drug entrapment at an optimal feeding ratio of 9:1 to both drugs together. The uniform particles of CPM-DD with suitable particle size (∼30 nm) and stable drug loading content (>9%) could be reliably obtained by self-assembly with the encapsulation yield up to 95%. Molecular dynamics simulation revealed the interaction mechanism responsible for forming these complex nanomicelles. The acid-base interaction between two drugs would significantly improve their binding with the copolymer, thus leading to good colloidal stability and controlled drug release characteristics of CPM-DD. Systematic evaluation based on the MCF-7 breast tumor-bearing nude mice model further demonstrated the characteristics of tissue biodistribution of both drugs delivered by CPM-DD, which were closely related to the drug loading pattern and greatly responsible for the improved anti-cancer potency and attenuated toxicity of this complex formulation. Therefore, all the findings indicated that CPM-DD would be a good alternative to the conventional formulations of DOX and worthy of clinical application for cancer chemotherapy.

• Authors: Muhammad Sohail, Bin Yu, Zheng Sun, Jiali Liu, Yanli Li, Feng Zhao, Daquan Chen, Xin Yang, Hui Xu
• Journal: Drug delivery (Drug Deliv) Vol. 29 Issue 1 Pg. 1523-1535 (Dec 2022) ISSN: 1521-0464 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 35611890 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Drug Carriers
• Micelles
• Polymers
• dimethoxycurcumin
• Doxorubicin
• Curcumin

Topics

• Animals
• Breast Neoplasms (drug therapy)
• Curcumin (analogs & derivatives)
• Doxorubicin
• Drug Carriers (therapeutic use)
• Female
• Humans
• Mice
• Mice, Nude
• Micelles
• Nanoparticles (chemistry)
• Polymers (chemistry)
• Tissue Distribution