Multicompartmental lipid-protein nanohybrids for combined tretinoin/herbal lung cancer therapy.

Multicompartmental lipid-protein nanohybrids (MLPNs) were developed for combined delivery of the anticancer drugs tretinoin (TRE) and genistein (GEN) as synergistic therapy of lung cancer. The GEN-loaded lipid core was first prepared and then coated with TRE-loaded zein shell via nanoprecipitation. TRE/GEN-MLPNs demonstrated a size of 154.5 nm. ion pair formation between anionic TRE and the cationic stearyl amine improved the drug encapsulation with enhanced stability of MLPNs. TRE/GEN-coloaded MLPNs were more cytotoxic against A549 cancer cells compared with combined free GEN/TRE. , lung cancer bearing mice treated with TRE/GEN-MLPNs displayed higher apoptotic caspase activation compared with mice-treated free combined GEN/TRE. TRE/GEN-MLPNs might serve as a promising parenteral nanovehicles for lung cancer therapy.