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Review
. 2022 Sep 1;13(9):1449.
doi: 10.3390/mi13091449.

Supercritical Fluids and Nanoparticles in Cancer Therapy

Iolanda De Marco  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Supercritical Fluids and Nanoparticles in Cancer Therapy

Iolanda De Marco. Micromachines (Basel). .

Abstract

Nanoparticles are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry due to their high surface-to-volume ratio. Among the many techniques used to obtain nanoparticles, those based on supercritical fluids ensure reduced dimensions, narrow particle size distributions, and a very low or zero solvent residue in the powders. This review focuses on using supercritical carbon dioxide-based processes to obtain the nanoparticles of compounds used for the treatment or prevention of cancer. The scientific literature papers have been classified into two groups: nanoparticles consisting of a single active principle ingredient (API) and carrier/API nanopowders. Various supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) based techniques for obtaining the nanoparticles were considered, along with the operating conditions and advantages and disadvantages of each process.

Keywords: anticancer effect; carrier-free nanoparticles; coprecipitated nanoparticles; in vitro and in vivo studies; supercritical carbon dioxide.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Exemplificative FESEM images and particle size distributions of nanoparticles obtained using scCO2. (a) Paclitaxel processed by the RESOLV process. Reprinted with permission from [57]. Copyright © 2022 American Chemical Society. (b) Capecitabine nanoparticles obtained by the GAS process. Adapted with permission from [61]. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier.
Figure 2
Figure 2
In vivo anticancer activity studies of 10-hydroxycamptothecin polymorphic nanoparticle dispersions. (A) Effects of tumor volume after intravenous injection of different dispersions. (B) Variation of the relative body weight of the mice after intravenous administrations. (C) The tumor inhibitory rate (TIR) after different treatments in A549 tumor-bearing nude mice. Data are represented as mean ± SD (n = 10). Statistical significance: ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.005. (D) Representative tumor-bearing mice are treated with different formulations for 24 days. (E) Representative tumors collected at the end of the experiment. Reprinted with permission from [63]. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Particle size distribution of PCL and rosemary extract obtained by the SAS process. Reprinted with permission from [78]. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Antitumor activity of siRNA-paclitaxel NPs measured by AO/EB assay. Arrow 1 for the green round, arrow 2 for the green irregular, arrow 3 for the orange irregular, and arrow 4 for the orange round. Adapted with permission from [81]. Copyright © 2022 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Graphical representation of tumor volume vs. time in days after treatment of ICG-SF nanoparticles and corresponding pictures of excised tumors of mice treated with samples for 16 days, (b) saline, (c) SF nanoparticles, (d) ICG, and (e) ICG-SF nanoparticles. Reprinted with permission from [87]. Copyright © 2022, American Chemical Society.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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