Anticancer Efficacy of Oral Docetaxel Nanoformulation for Metronomic Chemotherapy in Metastatic Lung Cancer

Metronomic chemotherapy, giving low doses of chemotherapeutics (e.g., docetaxel) on a frequent schedule over a long time, may improve outcomes and reduce side effects for cancer patients. Oral medications are vital for applying metronomic chemotherapy. However, low solubility, low absorption, low drug availability in the targeted tissue, and side effects limit the development of oral chemotherapeutics. Many chemotherapeutics are intravenously delivered. In this work, we developed a new docetaxel granule that produces docetaxel-loaded in situ self-assembled nanoparticle (180 nm) upon contact with water. The process of manufacturing docetaxel granules is scalable in industrial settings. The lung selectivity of docetaxel granule was observed in animals. The mechanistic studies demonstrated the nanoparticle bound with red blood cells, which selectively delivers docetaxel to the lungs. Finally, docetaxel granule (5 mg/kg twice per week) can profoundly inhibit the tumor growth of lung-metastatic cancer xenograft model over 24 days. The material-based lungselective oral nanoformulation provides an opportunity for conventionally intravenous chemotherapy drugs to be easily applied in oral administration for metronomic chemotherapy for cancer patients with lung cancers.