Photochemical Internalization Using Natural Anticancer Drugs, Antimetabolites, and Nanoformulations: A Systematic Study against Breast and Pancreatic Cancer Cell Lines.

Photochemical internalization (PCI) is a novel, minimally invasive drug delivery technology that facilitates the delivery of therapeutic molecules into the cytosol of cells. In this work, PCI was utilized in an effort to enhance the therapeutic index of the existing anticancer drugs as well as novel nanοformulations against breast and pancreatic cancer cells. Frontline anticancer drugs were tested with bleomycin as a benchmark PCI control; namely, three vinca alkaloids (vincristine, vinorelbine, and vinblastine), two taxanes (docetaxel and paclitaxel), two antimetabolites (gemcitabine and capecitabine), a combination of taxanes with antimetabolites, and two nano-sized formulations (squalene- and polymer-bound gemcitabine derivatives) were tested in a 3D PCI in vitro model.