title: Pluronic F68-Linoleic Acid Nano-spheres Mediated Delivery of Gambogic Acid for Cancer Therapy.
abstract: Gambogic acid (GA), a natural compound from gamboge resin, has been introduced as a promising antitumor drug contributing to its broad spectrum of antitumor activity. However, the poor aqueous solubility and short half-life hinder its clinical application. Pluronic F68 (F68) is a well-known amphiphilic block copolymer consisting of hydrophobic propylene oxide units and hydrophilic ethylene oxide. Although F68 has an amphiphilic structure, its short propylene oxide segment limits its dilution stability and drug-loading capacity. To overcome this limitation, we modified F68 by conjugating linoleic acid, a hydrophobic fatty acid, to increase the hydrophilic-hydrophobic interaction and thus improve the stability of F68 nano-spheres. This F68-linoleic acid (F68-LA) conjugate was synthesized and was used to load GA to improve its anticancer effects. GA-loaded F68-LA nano-spheres were stable for 6 days, with a mean diameter of 159.3 nm and zeta potential of -23.2 mV. The entrapment efficiency of GA in F68-LA nano-spheres was as high as 92.0%. Furthermore, F68-LA/GA nano-spheres exhibited an enhanced cytotoxic activity and proapoptotic effect against human ovarian cancer A2780 cells, compared with free GA. Our results showed that the F68-LA/GA nano-spheres might be a promising cancer-targeted drug delivery system in ovarian cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
authors.forename: Xiaobin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
authors.forename: Yingqi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
authors.forename: Shengpeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
authors.forename: Jianbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
authors.forename: Chengwei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China. mwchen@umac.mo.
authors.forename: Meiwan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D019787:Linoleic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D054118:Nanospheres / Q000737:chemistry*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D020442:Poloxamer / Q000737:chemistry*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry; D012995:Solubility; D044004:Xanthones / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004337:Drug Carriers; D044004:Xanthones; D020442:Poloxamer; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; C052659:gambogic acid; D019787:Linoleic Acid
keywords: anticancer; gambogic acid; linoleic acid; nano-spheres; pluronic F68