Development of -elemene and Cisplatin Co-Loaded Liposomes for Effective Lung Cancer Therapy and Evaluation in Patient-Derived Tumor Xenografts

Purpose-elemene and cisplatin combined chemotherapy currently is one of the most important settings available for lung cancer therapy in China. However, the clinical outcome is limited by their pharmacokinetic drawbacks. On the other hand, most of nanomedicines have failed in clinical development due to the huge differences between heterogeneous clinical tumor tissues and homogenous cell-derived xenografts. In this work, we fabricated a -elemene and cisplatin co-loaded liposomal system to effectively treat lung cancer.MethodIn vitro cytotoxicity of co-loaded liposomes was studied by MTT, trypan and Hoechst/PI staining, and western blot in A549, A549/DDP, and LCC cells. In vivo antitumor efficacy was evaluated in cell-derived and clinically relevant patient-derived xenografts.ResultsCo-loaded liposomes were more cytotoxic to cancer cells, especially than the combination of single-loaded liposomes, benefiting from their simultaneous drug internalization and release. As a result, they exhibited desirable therapeutic outcome in both cell-derived and patient-derived xenografts.Conclusion-elemene and cisplatin co-loaded liposomes are a clinically promising candidate for effective lung cancer therapy.