Di-O-lauroyl-decitabine-lipid nanocapsules: toward extending decitabine activity

BACKGROUND: Acute myeloid leukemia mainly affects adult patients. Complete remission for patients younger than 60 years, who are candidates for standard induction therapy, is achieved in 60%–80% of cases. However, the prognosis is still poor for older patients, who are unfit for intensive chemotherapy, and only a few therapies are available. Hypomethylating agents, such as decitabine, are approved for such patients. The current dosing regimen consists of one administration per day, for 5 days, each 4 weeks. METHODS: Here, we present the synthesis of a decitabine prodrug, combined with its encapsulation into a lipid-based nanocapsule formulation. Decitabine (C12)(2) was synthetized, then loaded into nanocapsules. Its stability in phosphate buffer ans human plasma was checked. Its activity was evaluated by Cell proliferation assays and cell-cycle analysis on human erythroleukemia cells. Then its pharmacokinetics was determined on a rat model. RESULTS: Decitabine (C12)(2) was obtained with a yield of 50%. Drug loading into nanocarriers of 27.45±0.05 nm was 5.8±0.5 mg/mL. The stability of decitabine was improved and its activity on leukemia cells was not altered. Finally, pharmacokinetics studies showed a prolonged mean residence time of the drug. CONCLUSION: Decitabine (C12)(2) as a prodrug showed high encapsulation efficiency, a good stability in plasma with no impact on its activity on leukemia cells and improved pharmacokinetics.