Carboplatin Niosomal Nanoplatform for Potentiated Chemotherapy

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize a stable nano-niosome formulation, which could reduce the adverse effects of carboplatin (CB) and improve its therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of breast cancer. For this purpose, CB-loaded polyethylene glycol (PEG)ylated niosome nanoparticles (PEG-NS-CB) were synthesized using the reverse-phase evaporation method. PEG-NS-CB (226.0 ± 10.6 nm) could release CB in a controlled manner and, compared to CB and CB-loaded non-PEGylated niosome (NS-CB), caused higher cytotoxicity effects against mouse breast cancer 4T1 cells (IC₅₀: 83.4, 26.6, and 22.5 µM for CB, NS-CB, and PEG-NS-CB, respectively). Also, PEG-NS-CB demonstrated higher stability, in which its profile of drug release, cytotoxicity, and LE% did not change significantly three months after preparation compared to those at the production time. In addition, the in vivo results demonstrated that PEG-NS-CB caused higher therapeutic (the number of alive mice: 12, 15, and 17 out of 20 in CB, NS-CB, and PEG-NS-CB receiver groups, respectively) and less toxicity effects (weight loss of 17, 12.5, and 10% in CB, NS-CB, and PEG-NS-CB receiver groups, respectively), compared to NS-CB and CB in breast cancer-bearing mice. Overall, the results of this study suggest that PEG-NS-CB could be a promising formulation for the treatment of breast cancer.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Carboplatin; Drug delivery; Nanoparticle; Niosome.