Lymph cancer chemotherapy: delivery of doxorubicin-gemcitabine prodrug and vincristine by nanostructured lipid carriers

Shuqin Ni, Lei Qiu, Guodong Zhang, Haiyan Zhou, Yong Han Department of Internal Medicine Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Shandong Academy of Medical Science, Ji’nan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China Purpose: Radiation and chemotherapy are the most common course of treatment for B-cell lymphoma. Doxorubicin (DOX), gemcitabine (GEM), and vincristine (VCR) are the commonly used antilymphoma chemotherapeutic drugs. The aim of this study is to construct a novel drug delivery system for the combination delivery of the three drugs on lymphoma. Materials and methods: DOX–GEM prodrug was synthesized. Novel nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) containing DOX–GEM prodrug and VCR were prepared and used to treat B-cell lymphoma through in vivo treatment to a lymph cancer animal model. The systemic toxicity of the nanomedicine was also evaluated during the treatment. Results: DOX–GEM prodrug and VCR-loaded NLCs (DOX–GEM VCR NLCs) exhibited the highest antitumor effect in B-cell lymphoma cells and lymphoma animal xenografts when compared with the single drug-loaded NLCs and the drug solutions. Conclusion: It could be concluded that the highest antitumor effect can be achieved by the system due to the stable drug-loading capacity, attractive anticancer therapeutic effects, and reduced toxicities in human Burkitt’s lymphoma cell line and mice-bearing cancer model. The resulting DOX–GEM VCR NLCs could be an efficient antilymph cancer agent and could be developed further for the treatment of other tumors. Keywords: combination chemotherapy, B-cell lymphoma, prodrug, nanostructured lipid carriers, drug deliver