The Study of Designing a Controlled Drug Release using Oxaliplatin-Loaded Hydrogel for Ovarian Cancer Treatment

Abstract

BackgroundOvarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological cancer due to its high recurrence rate. Oxaliplatin is partially cross-resistant with platinum drugs to enhance the efficacy for ovarian cancer treatment. By providing appropriate treatment for ovarian cancer, a drug carrier such as hydrogel loaded with oxaliplatin can be utilized to promote controlled drug release, prevent frequent dosing, and minimize rapid drug degradation. MethodsIn this study, a novel kind of hydrogel loaded with oxaliplatin (Hydrogel-OxPt) was developed to achieve a controlled drug release. The hydrogel was synthesized by Diels-Alder reaction to ensure specificity and avoid toxic by-products which was characterized by NMR, FTIR and SEM. The results showed a peak at 1454 cm−1 which is attributed to C-O-C Diels-Alder adduct and showed that the hydrogel is a porous material. Significant FindingsHydrogel-OxPt showed a controlled drug release profile where 78.8 % of oxaliplatin was released for one week. Results suggest that the mechanism of release is via diffusion where Higuchi and Korsmeyer-Peppas models showed an R2 of 0.9179 and 0.8924, respectively. The in vitro ovarian cancer cell line study has successfully proven the hydrogel-OxPt system demonstrated a good consistent oxaliplatin controlled release outcomes.