Hexosomes as Efficient Platforms for Possible Fluoxetine Hydrochloride Repurposing with Improved Cytotoxicity against HepG2 Cells

[Image: see text] The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of hexosomes (HEXs) as competent platforms for fluoxetine hydrochloride (FH) repurposing against HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma. Different FH-loaded HEX formulations were prepared and optimized by the hot emulsification method. The HEX features such as particle size, ζ potential, and drug entrapment efficiency (EE%) can be tailored by tuning HEX components and fabrication conditions. The composition of the optimized FH hexosome (OFH-HEX) was composed of 3.1, 1.4, 0.5, 0.2, and 94.8% for glyceryl monooleate, oleic acid, pluronic F127, FH, and deionized water, respectively. The anionic OFH-HEX with a particle size of 145.5 ± 2.5 nm and drug EE% of 45.4 ± 1.2% was able to prolong the in vitro FH release, where only 19.5 ± 2.3% released in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) pH 7.4 after 24 h. Contrarily, HEX rapidly released FH in acetate buffer pH 5.5 and achieved a 90.5 ± 4.7% release after 24 h. The obtained HEX showed an improved cellular internalization in a time-dependent manner and enhanced the cytotoxicity (2-fold higher than FH solution). The current study suggests the potential of FH-HEX as a possible anticancer agent against hepatocellular carcinoma.