Nanoliposomes as an Efficient Drug Carrier System for Paclitaxel Delivery

Abstract

Paclitaxel (PTX), a compound extracted from the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia), is widely used as a natural-source cancer drug in the treatment of ovarian, breast and lung cancers. Previous studies showed that PTX had obvious effects on cancer cells, it blocks the cell cycle in its G1 or M phases by stabilizing the microtubules and preventing depolymerization. However, the use of PTX is inconvenient and associated with significant and poorly predictable side effects, due to its low bioavailability and poor water solubility. The aim of this study was to develop PTX-loaded soy lecithin nanoliposomes (PTX-LP) to improve its bioavailability. In this study, PTX-LP was prepared by thin film hydration method. The average size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency (EE) of the PTX-LP were characterized. Results indicated that PTX-LP was able to loaded with suitable encapsulation efficiency values, nanometric particle size (100–200 nm), low polydispersity (less than 0.5), negative zeta potential, and slowly released up to 96 h. Therefore, the study expected that PTX-LP developed herein would serve as a potent drug carrier system for PTX in cancer therapy.