Breast cancer treatment by the means of liposomes

3^rd World Congress on Women’s Health & Breast Cancer

October 03-05, 2016 London, UK

Jerzy Gubernator

University of Wroclaw, Poland

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Cancer Sci Ther

Abstract :

Liposomes are one of the best candidates for Paul Ehrlich's concept of a 'Magic Bullet', as their structure is similar to this of cell membranes, they are non-toxic or of low toxicity, they are small, and it is relatively easy to direct them at a selected molecular target using antibodies, peptides, folic acid or other ligands. The use of liposomes results in a prolonged drug circulation life, reduced drug toxicity (by bypassing healthy tissues) and often increased efficacy of a therapy. Liposomal epirubicin (EPI) is expected to have a very strong potential in the treatment of several human cancer types including breast, ovarian, prostate and pulmonary cancers. In our studies, 2 novel formulations on EPI have been assessed as anti-breast cancer agent. The method involved EDTA ion gradient giving faster drug release rate following the liposome accumulation within tumor tissue, and thus better drug efficacy than the method based on ammonium sulfate gradient (used for Doxil�®). For example, low drug release rate in the tumor, was reported as a drawback of Doxil�®. The second liposomal formulation of EPI was based on vitamin C ion gradient method. In this case, the ability of the ascorbate to generate the ion gradient for active drug loading and additionally to increase the cytotoxic abilities of the anticancer drugs towards cancer cells was utilized. Both liposomal constructs were tested against human MDA-MB-231 and murine breast 4T-1 cancers in vitro and in vivo models. Obtained results indicate that liposomal EPI exhibited excellent pharmacokinetics with remarkably increased antitumor activity and reduced toxicity for animals.

Biography :

Email: gubern@ibmb.uni.wroc.pl