Human Serum Albumin Nanoparticles for Use in Cancer Drug Delivery: Process Optimization and In Vitro Characterization

Human serum albumin nanoparticles (HSA-NPs) are widely-used drug delivery systems with applications in various diseases, like cancer. For intravenous administration of HSA-NPs, the particle size, surface charge, drug loading and in vitro release kinetics are important parameters for consideration. This study focuses on the development of stable HSA-NPs containing the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel (PTX) via the emulsion-solvent evaporation method using a high-pressure homogenizer. The key parameters for the preparation of PTX-HSA-NPs are: the starting concentrations of HSA, PTX and the organic solvent, including the homogenization pressure and its number cycles, were optimized. Results indicate a size of 143.4 ± 0.7 nm and 170.2 ± 1.4 nm with a surface charge of -5.6 ± 0.8 mV and -17.4 ± 0.5 mV for HSA-NPs and PTX-HSA-NPs (0.5 mg/mL of PTX), respectively. The yield of the PTX-HSA-NPs was ~93% with an encapsulation efficiency of ~82%. To investigate the safety and effectiveness of the PTX-HSA-NPs, an in vitro drug release and cytotoxicity assay was performed on human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). The PTX-HSA-NPs showed dose-dependent toxicity on cells of 52%, 39.3% and 22.6% with increasing concentrations of PTX at 8, 20.2 and 31.4 μg/mL, respectively. In summary, all parameters involved in HSA-NPs' preparation, its anticancer efficacy and scale-up are outlined in this research article.