PEGylated Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles (MCM-41): A Promising Carrier for the Targeted Delivery of Fenbendazole into Prostrate Cancer Cells

Low water solubility and thus low bioavailability limit the clinical application of fenbendazole (FBZ) as a potential anticancer drug. Solubilizing agents, such as Mobil Composition of Matter Number 41 (MCM) as a drug carrier, can improve the water solubility of drugs. In this study, PEGylated MCM (PEG-MCM) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized and loaded with FBZ (PEG-MCM-FBZ) to improve its solubility and, as a result, its cytotoxicity effect against human prostate cancer PC-3 cells. The loading efficiency of FBZ onto PEG-MCM NPs was 17.2%. The size and zeta potential of PEG-MCM-FBZ NPs were 366.3 ± 6.9 nm and 24.7 ± 0.4 mV, respectively. They had a spherical shape and released the drug in a controlled manner at pH 1.2 and pH 6.2. PEG-MCM-FBZ were found to inhibit the migration of PC-3 cells, increase the cytotoxicity effects of FBZ against PC-3 cells by 3.8-fold, and were more potent by 1.4-fold, when compared to the non-PEGylated NPs. In addition, PEG-MCM-FBZ promoted the production of reactive oxygen species by 1.3- and 1.2-fold, respectively, when compared to FBZ and MCM-FBZ. Overall, the results demonstrate that PEG-MCM-FBZ NPs enhanced FBZ delivery to PC-3 cells; therefore, they have the potential to treat prostate cancer after a comprehensive in vivo study.

NANOEMULSIONS FOR PROSTRATE CANCER THERAPY: AN OVERVIEW

The objective of this review is to focus the inferences of low/poor bioavailability and lack of dose proportionality for the oral delivery of drugs in prostatecancer therapy. To overcome such problems, various formulation strategies has been reported including various methods for the use of surfactants,cyclodextrins, solid dispersions, micronization, permeation enhancers, and lipids. Flutamide is an antiandrogen drug and used for the therapy of prostate cancer. The flutamide drug is having limited clinical application due to its poor water solubility and needs enhancement of its dissolution rate in simulated gastric fluids. The lipid-based formulations such as nanoemulsion have been shown to improve the solubility and oral absorption of lipophilic drugs. To conclude, this article emphasizes the various approaches of nanoemulsion based formulation for prostate cancer therapy.Keywords: Nanoemulsion, Prostate cancer, Flutamide, Antiandrogen drug, Lipophilic drugs.