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

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.