tretinoin and gambogic-acid

Liposomal drug delivery has become an established technology platform to deliver dual drugs to produce synergistic effects and reduce the adverse effects of traditional chemotherapy. Gambogic acid (GA) and retinoic acid (RA) are both effective anticancer components, but their low water-solubility (gambogic acid < 0.0050 mg/mL, retinoic acid 0.0048 < mg/mL) makes it difficult to load both drugs into the liposomes actively using the conventional method. We have successfully used solvent-assisted active loading technology (SALT) to load the insoluble drugs into the internal water phase via water-miscible organic solvent. Gambogic acid and retinoic acid co-encapsulated liposomes (weight ratio of GA to RA = 1:2, GRL) exhibited the strongest synergistic effect; combination index (CI) was 0.614 in 4T1 cells. Our studies demonstrated that GRL had uniform droplet size of about 130 nm, high stability, and controlled release behavior. GRL outperformed gambogic acid and retinoic acid solution (GRS) in pharmacokinetic profiles for a longer half-life and increased AUC. Comparing to GRS, GL, and RL, GRL showed increased cytotoxicity and apoptosis in 4T1 cells and showed the strongest anti-tumor ability in the in vivo anti-tumor efficacy. Overall, the SALT was a promising method to active loading poorly soluble drugs into liposomes, and the results showed GRL possessed a great potential for use in synergistic anticancer therapy.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Breast Neoplasms; Capsules; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; Drug Combinations; Drug Compounding; Drug Liberation; Female; Liposomes; Mice; Particle Size; Solvents; Tretinoin; Xanthones; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Gambogic acid (GA) is a natural antitumor drug candidate with advantages of broad-spectrum activity, low toxicity and multiple mechanisms. Its clinical application is hindered, however, by low aqueous solubility, instability and poor pharmacokinetic properties. In this research, core-shell hybrid nanoparticles have been developed to improve the druggability of GA. The nanoparticles are composed of a benzylamidated poly(γ-glutamic acid) (BzPGA) derivative as a core material and an amphiphilic hyaluronic acid derivative grafted with all-trans retinoic acid (HA-C6-ATRA) as a shell material. Through π-π stacking interactions, GA is encapsulated into BzPGA to form the "core" of the hybrid nanoparticle and the "shell" is formed by HA-C6-ATRA with a π-π stacking mediated "molecular fence". The nanovehicle, with sub 100 nm size, provides almost 100% encapsulation efficiency, a good protective effect and a sustained release profile for GA. A series of evaluations suggest that the core-shell nanoparticles provide a stable aqueous injection formulation (I), improved stability (II), prolonged circulation time and conferred tumor targeting properties (III) for GA. As a result, the anti-tumor activity of GA is significantly enhanced without causing higher toxicity, indicating that the designed nanoplatform dramatically improves the druggability of GA. This study may also provide inspiration for drug development research.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Survival; Drug Carriers; Humans; Hyaluronic Acid; Lung Neoplasms; Male; Melanoma, Experimental; Mice; Mice, Inbred ICR; Nanoparticles; Particle Size; Polyglutamic Acid; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Tissue Distribution; Tretinoin; Xanthones

Gambogic acid (GA), the major active ingredient of gamboge, has been approved by the Chinese Food and Drug Administration for clinical trials in cancer patients due to its strong anticancer activity. However, our previous research showed that GA was teratogenic against zebrafish fin development. To explore the teratogenicity and the underlying mechanisms, zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos were used. The morphological observations revealed that GA caused fin defects in zebrafish embryos in a concentration-dependent manner. The critical exposure time of GA to reveal teratogenicity was before 8 hpf (hours post fertilization). LC/MS/MS analysis revealed that a maximum bioconcentration of GA was occurred at 4 hpf. Q-PCR data showed that GA treatment resulted in significant inactivation of RA signaling which could be partially rescued by the exogenous supply of RA. These results indicate the potential teratogenicity of GA and provide evidence for a caution in its future clinic use.

Topics: Animal Fins; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Embryo, Nonmammalian; Embryonic Development; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Retinal Dehydrogenase; Retinoic Acid 4-Hydroxylase; Signal Transduction; Tretinoin; Xanthones; Zebrafish; Zebrafish Proteins

In this study, gambogic acid (GA) and retinoic acid chlorochalcone (RACC) co-loaded glycol chitosan nanoparticle was successfully developed and studied for its therapeutic efficacy against osteosarcoma cancer cells. The GA/RACC loaded glycol chitosan nanoparticles (RGNP) was nanosized and exhibited a controlled release of drug in either pH 7.4 and pH 5.0. Owing to the strong positive charge on the RGNP surface, efficiency cellular uptake was observed in cancer cells. Moreover, a synergistic combination of GA and RACC were effectively suppressed the tumor growth progression. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values in MG63 cells were 0.89μg/ml and 0.35μg/ml for GA and RGNP after 24h. The results clearly suggest the synergist effect of GA and RACC in effectively inhibiting the cancer cell proliferation. The RGNP as expected induced a remarkably higher apoptosis of cancer cells with ∼28%. Overall, combination of GA and RACC encapsulated in a nanocarrier could be an effective strategy to treat osteosarcoma. Future studies will focus on the in vivo evaluation of GA/RACC-loaded polymeric nanoparticles.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Apoptosis; Cell Line, Tumor; Cyclohexanones; Drug Liberation; Endocytosis; Humans; Kinetics; Nanomedicine; Nanoparticles; Osteosarcoma; Treatment Outcome; Tretinoin; Xanthones

In order to enhance the in vivo codelivery efficiency of gambogic acid (GA) and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), our strategy was to entrap GA in the self-assembled nanoparticles based on amphiphilic hyaluronic acid (HA)-ATRA (HRA) conjugate. In this way, GA and ATRA were loaded simultaneously in a nanocarrier and codelivered into the tumor cell through HA receptor-mediated endocytosis. GA-loaded HRA nanoparticles (GA-HRA) were prepared by a dialysis method, and their physicochemical characteristics were investigated as well. GA-HRA exhibited a high drug loading capacity (31.1%), had a particle size in the range of 100-150 nm, and good biocompatibility. HRA nanoparticles were effectively internalized by MCF-7 cells and translocated into the nucleus in a time-dependent manner. The in vivo imaging analysis demonstrated that the fluorescent signals in the tumor were markedly increased with DiR-loaded nanoparticles after intravenous administration compared to free DiR solution, suggesting it has excellent tumor targeting properties. More importantly, GA-HRA exhibited excellent in vivo efficacy with dramatically reduced toxicity. In conclusion, with the assistance of HRA nanoparticles, GA and ATRA can successfully realize an effective combination chemotherapy as well as tumor-targeted delivery.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Cell Survival; Drug Carriers; Drug Combinations; Humans; Hyaluronic Acid; MCF-7 Cells; Mice; Nanoparticles; Neoplasms, Experimental; Particle Size; Tissue Distribution; Tretinoin; Xanthones; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays