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Emodin is applied as an antitumor drug in many tumor therapies. However, its pharmacology performances are limited due to its low solubility. Herein, we fused erythrocyte and macrophage to form a hybrid membrane (EMHM) and encapsulated emodin to form hybrid membrane-coated nanoparticles. We employed glycyrrhizin to increase the solubility of emodin first and prepared the hybrid membrane nanoparticle-coated emodin and glycyrrhizin (EG@EMHM NPs) which exhibited an average particle size of 170 ± 20 nm and encapsulation efficiency of 98.13 ± 0.67%. The half-inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of EG@EMHM NPs were 1.166 μg/mL, which is half of the free emodin. Based on the photosensitivity of emodin, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) results disclosed that ROS levels of the photodynamic therapy (PDT) section were higher than the normal section (P < 0.05). Compared to the normal section, PDT-mediated EG@EMHM NPs could induce an early stage of apoptosis of B16. The western blot and flow cytometry results verified that PDT-mediated EG@EMHM NPs can significantly improve the solubility of emodin and perform a remarkably antitumor effect on melanoma via BAX and BCL-2 pathway. The application of the combined chemical and PDT therapy could provide an improving target therapy for cutaneous melanoma and also may offer an idea for other insoluble components sources of traditional Chinese medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, N, N '-bis {4- [(α-L- rhamnosyloxy) benzyl]} thiourea (PG-1), a phenolic glycoside compound was purified from Moringa seed. The PG-1 has attracted extensive attention due to its anti-cancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hypoglycemic properties. However, some of its physicochemical properties such as oral bioavailability has not been studied. Herein, a highly purified PG-1 was extracted and incorporated in multiple layered liposomes (PG-1-L) to avoid its burst release and enhance oral bioavailability. After appropriate characterization, it was discovered that the obtained PG-1-L was stable, homogeneous and well dispersed with the average particle size being 89.26 ± 0.23 nm. Importantly, the in vitro release and in vivo oral bioavailability of PG-1-L were significantly improved compared with PG-1. In addition, MTT results showed that compared with the free PG-1, PG-1-L displayed obvious inhibitory effect on the HepG2 cells, while the inhibitory effect on healthy non-malignant 3T6 and LO-2 cells was not significant, indicating that PG-1-L had high safety. In conclusion, PG-1-L can be used as a promising delivery system and an ideal novel approach to improve the oral bioavailability and anticancer activity of PG-1., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.)