A novel polyethylene glycol mediated lipid nanoemulsion as drug delivery carrier for paclitaxel

A novel polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400) mediated lipid nanoemulsion as drug-delivery carrier for paclitaxel (PTX) was successfully developed. The formulation comprised a PEG400 solution of the drug (25mg/mL) that would be mixed with commercially 20% lipid emulsion to form PTX-loaded nanoemulsion (1mg/mL) prior to use. This two-vial formulation of PTX-loaded lipid nanoemulsion (TPLE) could significantly reduce extraction of reticuloendothelial system (RES) organs and increase tumor uptake, and exhibited more potent antitumor efficacy on bearing A2780 or Bcap-37 tumor nude mice compared to conventional PTX-loaded lipid nanoemulsion (CPLE). TPLE did not cause haematolysis and intravenous irritation response yet, and showed the same cytotoxicity against HeLa cells as Taxol®, and its LD50 was 2.7-fold higher than that of Taxol®, suggesting its good safety and druggability. In addition, TPLE displayed distinctly faster release of PTX, a greater proportion of PTX in phospholipids layer and a smaller share in oil phase than CPLE. From the Clinical Editor: This study demonstrates the feasibility and potential advantage of a novel PEG400-mediated two-vial formulation of lipid nanoemulsion as drug carrier for PTX in clinical application for the cancer therapy.

This team of investigators convincingly demonstrates the feasibility and potential advantage of a PEG400-mediated two-vial formulation of lipid nanoemulsion as drug carrier for PTX in cancer therapy, documenting superior safety and faster release of PTX compared to commercially available formulations.