Chapter 1 - Selective Effects of Azelaic Acid in Nanovesicles on Cell Lines

Abstract

New drug development is a complicated, costly, and time consuming process including preclinical and clinical trials, application for of new drug, and then approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Liposomes and niosomes are nanovesicles that have been used widely as drug carriers. The encapsulation of drugs in these vesicular systems offers several advantages, including the modification of lipophilicity and hydrophilicity, decreasing toxicity, and increasing the stability, circulation time, and absorption of the drug. For example, safety assessment of azelaic acid (AA) in nanovesicles for pharmaceutical was determined. In the process, AA was encapsulated in niosomes and liposomes with the compositions of nonionic surfactant/cholesterol and phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol, respectively. AA and AA in nanovesicles, using MTT assay on three cancer cell lines comparing with vincristine, were investigated. AA incorporated in liposomes was found to be more potent than AA, and less potent than vincristine. AA incorporated in nanovesicles was more effective than AA in killing cancer cells; AA-nanovesicular formulations on normal cell lines picked up from mouse epidermis and AA encapsulated nanovesicles were moderated, when compared with cisplatin. Free drug of both nanovesicular formulations showed no growth inhibition. AA-incorporated nanovesicles have been proved to have antiproliferative effects in cancer cell lines. Furthermore, the safety of AA when incorporated in nanovesicles has been showed, with no toxicity to normal cell lines.