Targeted delivery of doxorubicin and vincristine to lymph cancer: evaluation of novel nanostructured lipid carriers in vitro and in vivo

Purpose: Lymph cancers are heterogeneous malignancies of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues. Doxorubicin (DOX) and vincristine (VCR) are commonly used anti-cancer chemotherapeutic drugs, but their clinical uses are associated with dose-limiting systemic toxicity. Methods: In the present study, DOX and VCR were encapsulated into nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) and used them to treat B-cell lymphoma cells through the targeted delivery of DOX and VCR to lymph cancer animal model. Results: DOX and VCR encapsulated NLCs (DOX/VCR NLCs) demonstrated controlled drug release under physiological conditions. In addition, DOX/VCR NLCs exhibited the highest cytotoxicity and synergistic effect of two drugs in B-cell lymphoma cells and the best antitumor effect in vivo. Conclusion: DOX/VCR NLCs were proved to be more efficacious than the equivalent dose of free DOX and single drug (DOX or VCR) formulation in vitro and in vivo, and significantly reduced the drug-associated systemic toxicity.