Shape regulated anticancer activities and systematic toxicities of drug nanocrystals in vivo

In this paper, shape regulated anticancer activities as well as systematic toxicities of hydroxycamptothecin nanorods and nanoparticles (HCPT NRs and NPs) were systematically studied. In vitro and in vivo therapeutic efficacies were evaluated in cancer cells and tumor-bearing mice, indicating that NRs possessed superior antitumor efficacy over NPs at the equivalent dose, while systematic toxicity of the differently shaped nanodrugs assessed in healthy mice, including the maximum tolerated dose, blood analysis and histology examinations and so on, suggested that the NRs also caused higher toxicities than NPs, and also had a long-term toxicity. These results imply that the balance between anticancer efficiency and systematic toxicity of drug nanocrystals should be fully considered in practice, which will provide new concept in the future design of drug nanocrystals for cancer therapy. From the Clinical Editor: Advances in nanotechnology have enabled the design of novel nanosized drugs for the treatment of cancer. One of the interesting findings thus far is the different biological effects seen with different shaped nanoparticles. In this article, the authors investigated and compared the anticancer activities of hydroxycamptothecin nanorods and nanoparticles. The experimental data would provide a better understanding for future drug design.