Design and characterization of anionic PEGylated liposomal formulation loaded with paclitax for ovarian cancer

Despite its strong antitumor activity, paclitaxel (Taxol(®)) has limited clinical applications due to its low aqueous solubility and hypersensitivity caused by cremophor EL and ethanol which is the vehicle used in the current commercial product. In an attempt to develop a pharmaceutically acceptable formulation that could replace Taxol(®), we have prepared PEGylated liposomes containing paclitaxel to improve its solubility and physicochemical stability. Its percent drug entrapment (PDE), mean particle size, zeta potential and in vitro release profile were determined. The optimized PEGylated liposomes provided high percent entrapment efficiency (64.29%) and mean particle size of 228.6 nm. The electroflocculation method showed 5 mol% of DSPE-mPEG2000 was required to obtain maximum stability for PEGylated liposome. In vitro release data showed its long circulating characteristic. Paclitaxel loaded PEGylated liposomes can be considered a promising long circulating paclitaxel delivery with absence of side effects related to Taxol(®).