Development of transferrin-bearing vesicles encapsulating aspirin for cancer therapy

Sakpakdeejaroen, I., Somani, S., Mullin, M. and Dufès, C. (2020) Development of transferrin-bearing vesicles encapsulating aspirin for cancer therapy. Journal of Liposome Research, 30(2), pp. 174-181. (doi: 10.1080/08982104.2019.1614054) (PMID:31060409)

Abstract

Originally developed for the treatment of inflammatory disorders, the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug aspirin was shown to have a preventive effect against cancer in the past decades. Most importantly, recent studies suggested that it might also provide a therapeutic benefit in the treatment of cancer in vitro. However, this drug failed to specifically reach tumors at a therapeutic concentration following intravenous administration, thus resulting in lack of efficacy on tumors. In this work, we demonstrated that aspirin could be formulated in transferrin-bearing vesicles and that this tumor-targeted formulation could lead to an increase in the anti-proliferative efficacy of the drug in three cancer cell lines in vitro. The in vitro therapeutic efficacy of aspirin was significantly improved when formulated in transferrin-bearing vesicles, by about 2-fold compared to that of drug solution. These results are promising and support the optimization of this delivery system to further improve its potential as a therapeutic tool in combination with other anti-cancer therapies.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was financially supported by a Thammasat University Scholarship to I.S. [scholarship number TU_9708]. S.S. is funded by a research grant from The Dunhill Medical Trust [grant number R463/0216].
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mullin, Mrs Margaret
• Authors: Sakpakdeejaroen, I., Somani, S., Mullin, M., and Dufès, C.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
• Journal Name: Journal of Liposome Research
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0898-2104
• ISSN (Online): 1532-2394
• Published Online: 05 June 2019