Lung cancer combination therapy: co-delivery of paclitaxel and doxorubicin by nanostructured lipid carriers for synergistic effect

Context: Paclitaxel (PTX) and doxorubicin (DOX) are widely used for the combined chemotherapy of solid tumors. However, free drug combination has lower antitumor efficiency. It is necessary to design a drug delivery system to carry both of them. Objective: This study aimed to engineer a nano-drug delivery system for co-encapsulating PTX and DOX. This system was expected to resolve the multidrug resistance caused by single drug, and the dual-drug-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers were also planned to specifically target the cancer cells without obvious influence on normal cells and tissues. Methods: In this paper, nanostructured lipid carriers for combination delivery of PTX and DOX were prepared by the melt-emulsification technique. In vitro cytotoxicity against NCL-H460 human non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLS) cell line was investigated, and in vivo anti-tumor of NLC was evaluated on mice models grafting NCL-H460 cells. Results: PTX-DOX NLC achieved the highest cytotoxic effect among all formulations in vitro, as compared to single drug delivery NLC. In vivo investigation on NSCLC animal models showed that co-delivery of PTX and DOX possessed high tumor-targeting capacity and strong antitumor activity. Conclusion: The PTX-DOX NLC constructed in this research offers an effective strategy for targeted combinational lung cancer therapy.