Dual-Drug Nanosystem: Etoposide Prodrug and Cisplatin Coloaded Nanostructured Lipid Carriers for Lung Cancer Therapy

PURPOSE: Cisplatin (CDDP) and etoposide (Etp) are recommended first-line therapy for lung cancer. Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) are engineered to deliver drugs for lung cancer treatment. In the present study, NLCs were applied to coload an Etp prodrug (EtpP) and CDDP. METHODS: The Etp prodrug was synthesized by linking the phenolic hydroxyl group of Etp with polyethylene glycol (PEG). EtpP and CDDP coencapsulated NLCs (EtpP–CDDP NLCs) were prepared using film ultrasound. Cytotoxicity of drugs and drug-containing NLCs was assessed by evaluating cell viability using MTT assays. In vivo antitumor efficiency of EtpP–CDDP NLCs was evaluated on lung cancer–bearing xenografts. RESULTS: EtpP–CDDP NLCs showed a uniformly spherical morphology with a size of 176.8±4.9 nm and [Image: see text] -potential of –31.9±3.2 mV. Cellular uptake efficiency of EtpP–CDDP NLCs was 57.4%±3.9% on A549/DDP cells. EtpP–CDDP NLCs exhibited more sustained plasma retention, the highest drug distribution in tumors, and the highest tumor-inhibition rates in lung tumor–bearing mice. CONCLUSION: EtpP–CDDP NLCs improved tumor-cell uptake, cytotoxicity, and tumor-inhibition efficiency, and could be used as a promising drug-delivery system for lung cancer combination therapy.