A new nanostructured carrier design including oil to enhance the pharmaceutical properties of retinoid therapy and its therapeutic effects on chemo-resistant ovarian cancer.

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is an appealing alternative drug for the cancers that have failed the conventional chemotherapy and become chemo-resistant and more tumorigenic. In this study, we specifically addressed two issues commonly associated with ATRA nanotherapeutics: (1) insufficient, unstable entrapment and uncontrolled release of the highly lipophilic ATRA and (2) lack of studies in therapeutically relevant chemo-resistant cancer cell models. A polymer-oil nanostructured carrier (PONC) composed of oil and PLGA was designed and studied in an ovarian cancer cell subline SKOV-3PR that could withstand up to 300 nM paclitaxel and expressed high levels of multidrug resistance transporter ABCB1 and tumorigenic marker CD133.

Nanocarrier for poorly water-soluble anticancer drugs--barriers of translation and solutions.

Many existing chemotherapeutic drugs, repurposed drugs and newly developed small-molecule anticancer compounds have high lipophilicity and low water-solubility. Currently, these poorly water-soluble anticancer drugs (PWSAD) are generally solubilized using high concentrations of surfactants and co-solvents, which frequently lead to adverse side effects. In recent years, researchers have been actively exploring the use of nanotechnology as an alternative to the solvent-based drug solubilization approach.

A novel hybrid delivery system: polymer-oil nanostructured carrier for controlled delivery of highly lipophilic drug all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA).

Many recently developed drugs encounter delivery issues due to their high lipophilicity and poor aqueous solubility. This study reports the development of a novel hybrid nanocarrier known as polymer-oil nanostructured carrier (PONC), in which highly lipophilic drugs such as all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) and indomethacin pre-solubilized in oil phase were dispersed in a polymeric matrix of poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA). In comparison to the standard PLGA only nanoparticles, PONC substantially increased the encapsulation efficiency of ATRA and indomethacin by up to 259% and 124%, respectively.