Quercetin Liposomal Nanoformulation for Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury Treatment.

Ischemia and reperfusion injury (IRI) is a common complication caused by inflammation and oxidative stress resulting from liver surgery. Current therapeutic strategies do not present the desirable efficacy, and severe side effects can occur. To overcome these drawbacks, new therapeutic alternatives are necessary. Drug delivery nanosystems have been explored due to their capacity to improve the therapeutic index of conventional drugs. Within nanocarriers, liposomes are one of the most successful, with several formulations currently in the market. As improved therapeutic outcomes have been demonstrated by using liposomes as drug carriers, this nanosystem was used to deliver quercetin, a flavonoid with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, in hepatic IRI treatment. In the present work, a stable quercetin liposomal formulation was developed and characterized. Additionally, an in vitro model of ischemia and reperfusion was developed with a hypoxia chamber, where the anti-inflammatory potential of liposomal quercetin was evaluated, revealing the downregulation of pro-inflammatory markers. The anti-inflammatory effect of quercetin liposomes was also assessed in vivo in a rat model of hepatic IRI, in which a decrease in inflammation markers and enhanced recovery were observed. These results demonstrate that quercetin liposomes may provide a significant tool for addressing the current bottlenecks in hepatic IRI treatment.

Multifunctional gold-nanoparticles: A nanovectorization tool for the targeted delivery of novel chemotherapeutic agents.

Due to their small size and unique properties, multifunctional nanoparticles arise as versatile delivery systems easily grafted with a vast array of functional moieties, such as anticancer cytotoxic chemotherapeutics and targeting agents. Here, we formulated a multifunctional gold-nanoparticle (AuNP) system composed of a monoclonal antibody against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) (anti-EGFR D-11) for active targeting and a Co(II) coordination compound [CoCl(H2O)(phendione)2][BF4] (phendione=1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione) (TS265) with proven antiproliferative activity towards cancer cells (designated as TargetNanoTS265). The efficacy of this nanoformulation, and the non-targeted counterpart (NanoTS265), were evaluated in vitro using cancer cell models and in vivo using mice xenografts. Compared to the free compound, both nanoformulations (TargetNanoTS265 and NanoTS265) efficiently delivered the cytotoxic cargo in a controlled selective manner due to the active targeting, boosting tumor cytotoxicity. Treatment of HCT116-derived xenografts tumors with TargetNanoTS265 led to 93% tumor reduction. This simple conceptual nanoformulation demonstrates the potential of nanovectorization of chemotherapeutics via simple assembly onto AuNPs of BSA/HAS-drug conjugates that may easily be expanded to suit other cargo of novel compounds that require optimized controlled delivery to cancer target.

Formulation of oryzalin (ORZ) liposomes: in vitro studies and in vivo fate.

Oryzalin (ORZ) is a dinitroaniline that has attracted increasing interest for the treatment of leishmaniasis. The possible use of ORZ as an antiparasitic agent is limited by low water solubility associated with an in vivo rapid clearance. The aim of this work was to overcome these unfavorable pharmaceutical limitations potentiating ORZ antileishmanial activity allowing a future clinical use. This was attained by incorporating ORZ in appropriate liposomes that act simultaneously as drug solvent and carrier delivering ORZ to the sites of Leishmania infection. The developed ORZ liposomal formulations efficiently incorporated and stabilised ORZ increasing its concentration in aqueous suspensions at least 150 times without the need of toxic solvents. The incorporation of ORZ in liposomes reduced the in vitro haemolytic activity and cytotoxicity observed for the free drug, while ORZ exhibits a stable association with liposomes during the first 24h after parenteral administration, significantly reducing ORZ blood clearance and elimination from the body. Simultaneously, an increased ORZ delivery was observed in the main organs of leishmanial infection with a 9-13-fold higher accumulation as compared to the free ORZ. These results support the idea that ORZ performance was strongly improved by the incorporation in liposomes. Moreover, ORZ liposomal formulations can be administrated in vivo in aqueous suspensions without the need of toxic solvents. It is expected an improvement in the therapeutic activity of liposomal ORZ that will be tested in future work.