Di-O-lauroyl-decitabine-lipid nanocapsules: toward extending decitabine activity

Acute myeloid leukemia mainly affects adult patients. Complete remission for patients younger than 60 years, who are candidates for standard induction therapy, is achieved in 60%-80% of cases. However, the prognosis is still poor for older patients, who are unfit for intensive chemotherapy, and only a few therapies are available. Hypomethylating agents, such as decitabine, are approved for such patients. The current dosing regimen consists of one administration per day, for 5 days, each 4 weeks.

Here, we present the synthesis of a decitabine prodrug, combined with its encapsulation into a lipid-based nanocapsule formulation. Decitabine (C12)₂ was synthetized, then loaded into nanocapsules. Its stability in phosphate buffer ans human plasma was checked. Its activity was evaluated by Cell proliferation assays and cell-cycle analysis on human erythroleukemia cells. Then its pharmacokinetics was determined on a rat model.

Decitabine (C12)₂ was obtained with a yield of 50%. Drug loading into nanocarriers of 27.45±0.05 nm was 5.8±0.5 mg/mL. The stability of decitabine was improved and its activity on leukemia cells was not altered. Finally, pharmacokinetics studies showed a prolonged mean residence time of the drug.

Decitabine (C12)₂ as a prodrug showed high encapsulation efficiency, a good stability in plasma with no impact on its activity on leukemia cells and improved pharmacokinetics.