γ-Tocotrienol–Loaded Liposomes for Radioprotection from Hematopoietic Side Effects Caused by Radiotherapeutic Drugs

With the successful development and increased use of targeted radionuclide therapy for treating cancer comes the increased risk of radiation injury to bone marrow—both direct suppression and stochastic effects, leading to neoplasia. Herein, we report a novel radioprotector drug, a liposomal formulation of γ-tocotrienol (GT3), or GT3-Nano for short, to mitigate bone marrow radiation damage during targeted radionuclide therapy. Methods: GT3 was loaded into liposomes using passive loading. (64)Cu-GT3-Nano and (3)H-GT3-Nano were synthesized to study the in vivo biodistribution profile of the liposome and GT3 individually. The radioprotection efficacy of GT3-Nano was assessed after acute (137)Cs whole-body irradiation at a sublethal (4 Gy), a lethal (9 Gy), or a single high-dose administration of (153)Sm-ethylenediamine-N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis(methylene phosphonic acid) (EDTMP). Flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy were used to analyze hematopoietic cell population dynamics and the cellular site of GT3-Nano localization in the spleen and bone marrow, respectively. Results: Bone marrow uptake and retention (percentage injected dose per gram of tissue) at 24 h was 6.98 ± 2.34 for (64)Cu-GT3-Nano and 7.44 ± 2.52 for (3)H-GT3-Nano. GT3-Nano administered 24 h before or after 4 Gy of total-body irradiation (TBI) promoted rapid and complete hematopoietic recovery, whereas recovery of controls stalled at 60%. GT3-Nano demonstrated dose-dependent radioprotection, achieving 90% survival at 50 mg/kg against lethal 9-Gy TBI. Flow cytometry of the bone marrow indicated that progenitor bone marrow cells MPP2 and CMP were upregulated in GT3-Nano–treated mice. Immunohistochemistry showed that GT3-Nano accumulates in CD105-positive sinusoid epithelial cells. Conclusion: GT3-Nano is highly effective in mitigating the marrow-suppressive effects of sublethal and lethal TBI in mice. GT3-Nano can facilitate rapid recovery of hematopoietic components in mice treated with the endoradiotherapeutic agent (153)Sm-EDTMP.