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Wei-Jie Cheng,1,* Shyr-Yi Lin,2,3,* Kuo-Hsiang Chuang,4,5,* Michael Chen,4 Hsiu-O Ho,1 Ling-Chun Chen,6 Chien-Ming Hsieh,1 Ming-Thau Sheu1 1School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 2Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 3Department of General Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 4Graduate Institute of Pharmacognosy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 5PhD Program in Clinical Drug Development of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 6Department of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Technology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chien-Ming Hsieh; Ming-Thau Sheu, Email cmhsieh@tmu.edu.tw; mingsheu@tmu.edu.twIntroduction: Approximately 15%~30% of breast cancers have gene amplification or overexpression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), resulting in the chemotherapy resistance, a more-aggressive phenotype and poor prognosis.Methods: We propose a strategy of nanocarriers co-loaded with docetaxel (DTX) and pictilisib (PIC) at a synergistic ratio and non-covalently bound with dual anti-HER2 epitopes bispecific antibodies (BsAbs: anti-HER2-IV/methoxy-polyethylene glycol (mPEG) and anti-HER2-II/methoxy-PEG) for synergistic targeting to overcome the therapeutic dilemmas of the resistance for HER2-targetable chemodrugs. DTX/PIC-loaded nanocarriers (D/P_NCs) were prepared with single emulsion methods and characterized using dynamic light scattering analysis, and the drug content was assayed by high-performance liquid chromatographic method. The integrity and function of BsABs were evaluated using sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The in vitro cell studies and in vivo breast tumor-bearing mice model were used to evaluate the anti-cancer effect and biosafety of formulations.Results: D/P_NCs optimally prepared exhibited a spherical morphology with small particle sizes (~140 nm), high drug loading (~5.5%), and good colloidal stability. The synergistic tumor cytotoxicity of loading DTX and PIC at 2:1 ratio in D/P_NCs was discovered. The BsAbs are successfully decorated on mPEGylated DTX/PIC-loaded nanocarriers via anti-mPEG moiety. In vitro studies revealed that non-covalent decoration with dual BsAbs on D_P-NCs significantly and synergistically increased cellular uptake, while with loading DTX and PIC at a synergistic ratio of 2:1 in D/P_NCs further resulted in synergistic cytotoxicity. In vivo tumor inhibition studies showed the comparable results for synergistic antitumor efficacy while minimizing systemic toxicity of chemodrugs.Conclusion: Non-covalent modification with dual distinct epitopes BsAbs on the nanocarriers loaded with dual chemodrugs at a synergistic ratio was expected to be a promising therapeutic platform to overcome the chemoresistance of various cancers and warrants further development for future therapy in the clinical.Graphical Abstract: Keywords: docetaxel, pictilisib, nanocarriers, bispecific antibodies, dual epitopes, HER2-positive breast cancer

Wen-Ting Cheng,1,&ast; Hsiu-O Ho,1,&ast; Shyr-Yi Lin,2,3 Der-Zen Liu,4 Ling-Chun Chen,5 Ming-Thau Sheu1 1School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 2Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 3Department of General Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 4Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 5Department of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Technology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ming-Thau SheuSchool of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hsing Street, Taipei, 11031, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +886 2 2377 1942Email mingsheu@tmu.edu.twLing-Chun ChenDepartment of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Technology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, No. 306, Yuanpei Street, Hsinchu, 30015, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +886 2 2377 1942Email d8801004@mail.ypu.edu.twPurpose: Therapeutic efficacy of pancreatic adenocarcinomas (PACs) with combined therapy of carfilzomib (CFZ) and paclitaxel (PTX) co-loaded in human serum albumin (HSA) nanoparticles (NPs) was examined.Methods: CFZ and PTX were encapsulated individually or combined into HSA NPs by a simple reverse self-assembly method developed to achieve an optimal combination ratio for synergistic therapy. CFZ or/and PTX loaded HSA nanoparticles were physically characterized and the evaluation of combination index, drug release, pharmacokinetic, anti-tumor, and biodistribution studies were conducted.Results: All resultant drug-loaded HSA NPs were spherical with a particle size of < 150 nm and a zeta potential of − 21.1∼− 23.0 mV. Drug loading rates and entrapment efficiencies were 9.1%∼ 10.1% and 90.7%∼ 97.1%, respectively. CFZ and PTX demonstrated synergistic effects in an MIA PaCa-2 cytotoxicity at a 1:2 ratio (CI50 were 0.01∼ 0.25). In vitro dissolution revealed that the CFZ/PTX ratio released from the co-loaded HSA NPs (CFZ/PTX/HSA NPs) was about 1.77∼ 2.08, which conformed to the designated loaded ratio. In vivo evaluation showed that the combined therapy of CFZ and PTX at a 1:2 ratio co-loaded in HSA NPs (CFZ/PTX/HSA NPs) demonstrated optimal synergistic improvement of the growth inhibition of MIA PaCa-2 cells with less systematic toxicity, even though the pharmacokinetic profiles observed did not show obvious beneficial and their biodistributions in tumors were found to be smaller.Conclusion: The one-pot reverse assembly method developed was environmentally friendly and capable of co-loading an optimal combination ratio of two chemodrugs into HSA NPs for synergistic therapy.Keywords: human serum albumin, nanoparticles, carfilzomib, paclitaxel, co-loading, synergism

Wei-Jie Cheng,1,* Shyr-Yi Lin,2,3,* Michael Chen,4 Ling-Chun Chen,5 Hsiu-O Ho,1 Kuo-Hsiang Chuang,4,6 Ming-Thau Sheu1 1School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 2Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 3Department of General Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 4PhD Program in Clinical Drug Development of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 5Department of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Technology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan; 6Graduate Institute of Pharmacognosy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Kuo-Hsiang Chuang; Ming-Thau Sheu Email khchuang@tmu.edu.tw; mingsheu@tmu.edu.twPurpose: This study was aimed at developing the trispecific antibodies (anti-EGFR/anti-FAP/anti-mPEG, TsAb) or dual bispecific antibodies (anti-EGFR/anti-mPEG and anti-FAP/anti-mPEG) docetaxel (DTX)-loaded mPEGylated lecithin-stabilized micelles (mPEG-lsbPMs) for improving the targeting efficiency and therapeutic efficacy.Methods: mPEG-lsbPMs were simply prepared via thin film method. The trispecific antibodies or bispecific antibodies bound the mPEG-lsbPMs by anti-mPEG Fab fragment. The formulations were characterized by DLS and TEM; in vitro and in vivo studies were also conducted to evaluate the cellular uptake, cell cytotoxicity and therapeutic efficacy.Results: The particle sizes of mPEG-lsbPMs with or without the antibodies were around 100 nm; the formulations showed high encapsulation efficiencies of 97.12%. The TsAb and dual bispecific antibodies were fabricated and demonstrated their targeting ability. Two EGFR-overexpressed cell lines (HT-29 and MIA PaCa-2) were co-cultured with FAP-overexpressed WS1 cells (HT-29/WS1; MIA PaCa-2/WS1) to mimic a tumor coexisting in the tumor microenvironment. Cellular binding study revealed that the binding of anti-FAP micelles to three co-culture ratios (4:1, 1:1, and 1:4) of HT-29/EGFR to WS1/FAP was significantly higher than that for TsAb micelles and dual (1:1) micelles, and the binding of those targeting antibodies to WS1/FAP and MIA PaCa-2/EGFR was equally efficacious resulting in a similar binding amount of the TsAb and dual BsAbs (1:1) with the co-culture of MIA PaCa-2/EGFR and WS1/FAP at a 1:1 ratio. Antitumor efficacy study showed that treatment with DTX-loaded mPEG-lsbPMs modified with or without BsAbs, dual BsAbs (1:1), and TsAbs was enhanced in inhibiting tumor growth compared with that for Tynen® while showing fewer signs of adverse effects.Conclusion: Active targeting of both tumors and TAF-specific antigens was able to increase the affinity of DTX-loaded mPEG-lsbPMs toward tumor cells and TAFs leading to successive uptake by tumor cells or TAFs which enhanced their chemotherapeutic efficacy against antigen-positive cancer cells.Keywords: lecithin-stabilized mPEGylated mixed polymeric micelle, bispecific antibody, trispecific antibody, active targeting, tumor-associated fibroblast, tumor antigen

Hong-Liang Lin,1 Wen-Ting Cheng,2 Ling-Chun Chen,3 Hsiu-O Ho,2 Shyr-Yi Lin,4,5 Chien-Ming Hsieh2 1School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan, Republic of China; 2School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan, Republic of China; 3Department of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Technology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu 30015, Taiwan, Republic of China; 4Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11696, Taiwan, Republic of China; 5Department of General Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Shyr-Yi Lin; Chien-Ming Hsieh 250 Wu-Hsing Street, Taipei 11031, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaTel +886-2-27361661 ext 6112Fax +886-2-23771942Email sylin@tmu.edu.tw; cmhsieh@tmu.edu.twObjective: This study was intended to utilize lecithin-based mixed polymeric micelles (lbMPMs) for enhancing the solubility and bioavailability of honokiol and magnolol to resolve the hindrance of their extreme hydrophobicity on the clinical applications.Methods: Lecithin was selected to increase the volume of the core of lbMPMs, thereby providing a greater solubilization capacity. A series of amphiphilic polymers (sodium deoxycholate [NaDOC], Cremophor®, and Pluronic® series) were included with lecithin for screening and optimization.Results: After preliminary evaluation and subsequentially optimization, two lbMPMs formulations composed of honokiol/magnolol:lecithin:NaDOC (lbMPMs[NaDOC]) and honokiol/magnolol:lecithin:PP123 (lbMPMs[PP123]) in respective ratios of 6:2:5 and 1:1:10 were optimally obtained with the mean particle sizes of 80– 150 nm, encapsulation efficacy (EEs) of > 90%, and drug loading (DL) of > 9.0%. These lbMPMs efficiently stabilized honokiol/magnolol in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at room temperature or 4 °C and in fetal bovine serum or PBS at 37 °C. PK study demonstrated that lbMPMs[NaDOC] showed much improvement in enhancing bioavailability than that by lbMPMs[PP123] for both honokiol and magnolol. The absolute bioavailability for honokiol and magnolol after intravenous administration of lbMPMs[NaDOC] exhibited 0.93- and 3.4-fold increases, respectively, compared to that of free honokiol and magnolol. For oral administration with lbMPMs[NaDOC], the absolute bioavailability of honokiol was 4.8%, and the absolute and relative bioavailability of magnolol were 20.1% and 2.9-fold increase, respectively.Conclusion: Overall, honokiol/magnolol loaded in lbMPMs[NaDOC] showed an improvement of solubility with suitable physical characteristics leading to enhance honokiol and magnolol bioavailability and facilitating their wider application as therapeutic agents for treating human disorders.Keywords: lecithin, mixed polymeric micelles, honokiol, magnolol, sodium deoxycholate, pluronic

Hong-Liang Lin,1 Ting-Huan Wu,2 Hsiu-O Ho,2 Fang-Ching Chao,2 Meng-Huang Wu,3,4 Der-Zen Liu,5 Ling-Chun Chen,6 Ming-Thau Sheu2 1School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China; 2School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 3Department of Orthopedics, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 4Department of Orthopedics, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 5Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; 6Department of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Technology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Ling-Chun Chen; Ming-Thau SheuTaipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hsing Street, Taipei 11031, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaTel +886-2-27361661 ext. 6112Fax +886-2-23771942Email d8801004@tmu.edu.tw; mingsheu@tmu.edu.twIntroduction: In this study, the combination of TEMPO-oxidized sacchachitin nanofibers (TOSCNFs) with chitosan-activated platelet-rich plasma (cPRP) was evaluated for remedying dry eye syndrome (DES).Methods: TOSCNFs, designated T050SC, were generated. T050SC combined with chitosan-activated (cPRP) was formulated as eye drops for application for severe DES. To evaluate the effects of cPRP and TOSCNFs on the repair of corneal injury, in vitro studies were conducted using Statens Seruminstitut rabbit corneal (SIRC) epithelial cells for cell proliferation and cell migration assays, and a severe DES animal model using rabbits was established with benzalkonium chloride (BAC) treatment for the evaluation.Results: Results showed that the optimal eye formulation contained PRP activated by 350 μg/mL of the low-molecular-weight chitosan group (L3) combined with 300 μg/mL TO50SC (L3+T050SC). In the WST-1 cell-proliferation assay, L3 and L3+TO50SC significantly increased Statens SIRC cell proliferation after 24 hrs of incubation. In the SIRC cell migration assay, the L3+TO50SC group showed a wound-healing efficiency of 89% after 24-hr treatment. After 5 days of treatment, Schirmer’s test results did not simulate the dry eye animal model. Typical cornea appearance and eye fluorescein staining results showed that the L3 group had the best effect on improving cornea haze and epithelial damage.Conclusion: This study has determined that TOSCNFs effectively promoted the healing effect on severe cases of corneal damage, and also might enhance the clinical application and medical potential of PRP in ophthalmology.Keywords: TEMPO-oxidation, sacchachitin, PRP, dry eye syndrome, nanofibers

Wei-Jie Cheng,1,* Ling-Chun Chen,2,* Hsiu-O Ho,1 Hong-Liang Lin,3 Ming-Thau Sheu1 1School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 2Department of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Technology, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan; 3School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan *These authors contributed equally to this work Purpose: In this study, a double emulsion method for complexing plasmids with stearyl polyethylenimine (stPEI) as the core to form human serum albumin (HSA) (plasmid/stPEI/HSA) nanoparticles (NPs) was developed for gene delivery by non-covalently binding onto plasmid/stPEI/HSA nanoparticles with CRISPR/Cas9 or siRNA, which disrupts or silences the expression of programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) for immunotherapy. Materials and methods: Chemically synthesized stearyl-polyethyenimine (stPEI)/ plasmids /HSA nanoparticles were maded by double emulsion method. They were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscope and also evaluated by in vitro study on CT 26 cells. Results: stPEI was synthesized by an N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC)–N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) reaction, and we found that the degree of substitution was ~1.0 when the ratio of PEI to stearic acid was 1:7 in the reaction. Then, two sgRNA sequences were selected and evaluated for their ability to knock out PD-L1 by decreasing its expression by about 20%. Based on the trend of particle size/zeta potential values as a function of ratio, F25P1 containing 25 µg of plasmid/stPEI/HSA NPs noncovalently bound to 1 µg plasmids via charge–charge interactions was found to be optimal. Its particle size was about 202.7±4.5 nm, and zeta potential was 12.60±0.15 mV. In an in vitro study, these NPs showed little cytotoxicity but high cellular uptake. Moreover, they revealed the potential for transfection and PD-L1 knockout in an in vitro cell model. Furthermore, F25P1S0.5 containing 25 µg of plasmid/stPEI/HSA NPs noncovalently bound to 1 µg of plasmids and 0.5 µg siRNA was prepared to simultaneously deliver plasmids and siRNA. An in vitro study demonstrated that the siRNA did not interfere with the transfection of plasmids and showed a high-transfection efficiency with a synergistic effect on inhibition of PD-L1 expression by 21.95%. Conclusion: The plasmids/stPEI/HSA NPs could be a promising tool for gene delivery and improved immunotherapy. Keywords: stearyl polyethylenimine, human serum albumin nanoparticles, PD-L1, CRISPR, Cas9, siRNA, gene delivery

Ling-Chun Chen,1,* Ying-Chen Chen,1,* Chia-Yu Su,1 Chung-Shu Hong,1 Hsiu-O Ho,1 Ming-Thau Sheu1,2 1School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, 2Clinical Research Center and Traditional Herbal Medicine Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Quercetin (Que) is known to have biological benefits including an anticancer effect, but low water solubility limits its clinical application. The aim of this study was to develop a lecithin-based mixed polymeric micelle (LMPM) delivery system to improve the solubility and bioavailability of Que. The optimal Que-LMPM, composed of Que, lecithin, Pluronic® P123, and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-methoxy[poly(ethylene glycol)-2000] in a proportion of 3:1:17.5:2.5 (w/w), was prepared by a thin-film method. The average size, polydispersion index, encapsulating efficiency, and drug loading of Que-LMPM were 61.60±5.02 nm, 0.589±0.198, 96.87%±9.04%, and 12.18%±1.11%, respectively. The solubility of Que in the Que-LMPM system increased to 5.81 mg/mL, compared to that of free Que in water of 0.17–7.7 µg/mL. The Que-LMPM system presented a sustained-release property in vitro. The in vitro cytotoxicity assay showed that the 50% inhibitory concentration values toward MCF-7 breast cancer cells for free Que, blank LMPMs, and Que-LMPMs were >200, >200, and 110 µM, respectively, indicating the nontoxicity of the LMPM carrier, but the LMPM formulation enhanced the cytotoxicity of Que against MCF-7 cells. A cellular uptake assay also confirmed the intake of Que-LMPM by MCF-7 cells. An in vivo pharmacokinetic study demonstrated that Que-LMPMs had higher area under the concentration–time curve and a longer half-life, leading to better bioavailability compared to a free Que injection. Due to their nanosize, core–shell structure, and solubilization potential, LMPMs were successfully developed as a drug delivery system for Que to improve its solubility and bioavailability. Keywords: quercetin, micelle, lecithin, Pluronic®, DSPE-PEG, mixed micelles, bioavailability

Feng-Yun J Huang,1 Te-Wei Lee,2 Chih-Hsien Chang,2 Liang-Cheng Chen,2 Wei-Hsin Hsu,2 Chien-Wen Chang,1 Jem-Mau Lo1 1Department of Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan; 2Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Longtan, Taiwan Purpose: In this study, the 188Re-labeled PEGylated nanoliposome (188Re-liposome) was prepared and evaluated as a therapeutic agent for glioma.Materials and methods: The reporter cell line, F98luc was prepared via Lentivector expression kit system and used to set up the orthotopic glioma-bearing rat model for non-invasive bioluminescent imaging. The maximum tolerated dose applicable in Fischer344 rats was explored via body weight monitoring of the rats after single intravenous injection of 188Re-liposome with varying dosages before the treatment study. The OLINDA/EXM 1.1 software was utilized for estimating the radiation dosimetry. To assess the therapeutic efficacy, tumor-bearing rats were intravenously administered 188Re-liposome or normal saline followed by monitoring of the tumor growth and animal survival time. In addition, the histopathological examinations of tumors were conducted on the 188Re-liposome-treated rats.Results: By using bioluminescent imaging, the well-established reporter cell line (F98luc) showed a high relationship between cell number and its bioluminescent intensity (R2=0.99) in vitro; furthermore, it could also provide clear tumor imaging for monitoring tumor growth in vivo. The maximum tolerated dose of 188Re-liposome in Fischer344 rats was estimated to be 333 MBq. According to the dosimetry results, higher equivalent doses were observed in spleen and kidneys while very less were in normal brain, red marrow, and thyroid. For therapeutic efficacy study, the progression of tumor growth in terms of tumor volume and/or tumor weight was significantly slower for the 188Re-liposome-treated group than the control group (P

Ray-Neng Chen,1,* Lin-Wen Lee,2,5,* Ling-Chun Chen,3 Hsiu-O Ho,3 Shiao-Chuan Lui,2 Ming-Thau Sheu,3,4 Ching-Hua Su2 1Department of Cosmetic Science and Management, Mackay Medicine, Nursing and Management College, Taipei, 2Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, 3School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, 4Clinical Research Center and Traditional Herbal Medicine Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei Medical University, 5Research Center for Biomedical Devices and Prototyping Production, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workAbstract: The extraction residue of the Ganoderma fruiting body, named sacchachitin, has been demonstrated to have the potential to enhance cutaneous wound healing by inducing cell proliferation. In this study, a nanogel formed from micronized sacchachitin (mSC) was investigated for the potential treatment of superficial chemical corneal burns. Reportedly, mSC has been produced successfully and its chemical properties confirmed, and physical and rheological properties characterized. An in vitro cell proliferation study has revealed that at the concentrations of 200, 300, and 400 µg/mL, mSC nanogel significantly increased Statens Seruminstitut rabbit corneal (SIRC) cell proliferation after 24 hours of incubation. In cell migration assay, migration of SIRC cell to wound closure was observed after 24 hours of incubation with the addition of 200 µg/mL mSC of nanogel. In an animal study, acceleration of corneal wound healing was probably due to the inhibition of proteolysis. In conclusion, the findings of this study substantiate the potential application of sacchachitin in the form of mSC nanogel for the treatment of superficial corneal injuries.Keywords: corneal wound healing, sacchachitin, matrix metalloproteinase

Wen-Chuan Lee1,*, Chih-Hsien Chang2,3,*, Chih-Min Huang1, Yu-Tse Wu1, Liang-Cheng Chen2, Chung-Li Ho2, Tsui-Jung Chang2, Te-Wei Lee2, Tung-Hu Tsai1,41Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, 2Division of Isotope Application, Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Taoyuan, 3Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, 4Department of Education and Research, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan*These authors contributed equally to this workBackground: The combination of a radioisotope with a chemotherapeutic agent in a liposomal carrier (ie, Indium-111-labeled polyethylene glycol pegylated liposomal vinorelbine, [111In-VNB-liposome]) has been reported to show better therapeutic efficiency in tumor growth suppression. Nevertheless, the challenge remains as to whether this therapeutic effect is attributable to the combination of a radioisotope with chemotherapeutics. The goal of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, and correlation of Indium-111 radioactivity and vinorelbine concentration in the 111In-VNB-liposome.Methods: The VNB-liposome and 111In-VNB-liposome were administered to rats. Blood, liver, and spleen tissue were collected to determine the distribution profile of the 111In-VNB-liposome. A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry system and gamma counter were used to analyze the concentration of vinorelbine and radioactivity of Indium-111.Results: High uptake of the 111In-VNB-liposome in the liver and spleen demonstrated the properties of a nanosized drug delivery system. Linear regression showed a good correlation (r = 0.97) between Indium-111 radioactivity and vinorelbine concentration in the plasma of rats administered the 111In-VNB-liposome.Conclusion: A significant positive correlation between the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of 111Indium radioactivity and vinorelbine in blood, spleen, and liver was found following administration of the 111In-VNB-liposome. The liposome efficiently encapsulated both vinorelbine and Indium-111, and showed a similar concentration-radioactivity time profile, indicating the correlation between chemotherapy and radiotherapy could be identical in the liposomal formulation.Keywords: Indium-111, vinorelbine, liposome, pharmacokinetics, radiochemotherapy

Chia-Che Tsai1, Chih-Hsien Chang1, Liang-Cheng Chen1, Ya-Jen Chang1, Keng-Li Lan2, Yu-Hsien Wu1, Chin-Wei Hsu1, I-Hsiang Liu1, Chung-Li Ho1, Wan-Chi Lee1, Hsiao-Chiang Ni1, Tsui-Jung Chang1, Gann Ting3, Te-Wei Lee11Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Taoyuan, 2Cancer Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, 3National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan, ROCBackground: Nanoliposomes are designed as carriers capable of packaging drugs through passive targeting tumor sites by enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effects. In the present study the biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, micro single-photon emission computed tomography (micro-SPECT/CT) image, dosimetry, and therapeutic efficacy of 188Re-labeled nanoliposomes (188Re-liposomes) in a C26 colonic peritoneal carcinomatosis mouse model were evaluated.Methods: Colon carcinoma peritoneal metastatic BALB/c mice were intravenously administered 188Re-liposomes. Biodistribution and micro-SPECT/CT imaging were performed to determine the drug profile and targeting efficiency of 188Re-liposomes. Pharmacokinetics study was described by a noncompartmental model. The OLINDA|EXM® computer program was used for the dosimetry evaluation. For therapeutic efficacy, the survival, tumor, and ascites inhibition of mice after treatment with 188Re-liposomes and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), respectively, were evaluated and compared.Results: In biodistribution, the highest uptake of 188Re-liposomes in tumor tissues (7.91% ± 2.02% of the injected dose per gram of tissue [%ID/g]) and a high tumor to muscle ratio (25.8 ± 6.1) were observed at 24 hours after intravenous administration. The pharmacokinetics of 188Re-liposomes showed high circulation time and high bioavailability (mean residence time [MRT] = 19.2 hours, area under the curve [AUC] = 820.4%ID/g*h). Micro-SPECT/CT imaging of 188Re-liposomes showed a high uptake and targeting in ascites, liver, spleen, and tumor. The results were correlated with images from autoradiography and biodistribution data. Dosimetry study revealed that the 188Re-liposomes did not cause high absorbed doses in normal tissue but did in small tumors. Radiotherapeutics with 188Re-liposomes provided better survival time (increased by 34.6% of life span; P < 0.05), tumor and ascites inhibition (decreased by 63.4% and 83.3% at 7 days after treatment; P < 0.05) in mice compared with chemotherapeutics of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).Conclusion: The use of 188Re-liposomes for passively targeted tumor therapy had greater therapeutic effect than the currently clinically applied chemotherapeutics drug 5-FU in a colonic peritoneal carcinomatosis mouse model. This result suggests that 188Re-liposomes have potential benefit and are safe in treating peritoneal carcinomatasis of colon cancer.Keywords: biodistribution, dosimetry, 5-fluorouracil, micro-SPECT/CT, 188Re-liposomes

Objective: This study was intended to utilize lecithin-based mixed polymeric micelles ( lb MPMs) for enhancing the solubility and bioavailability of honokiol and magnolol to resolve the hindrance of their extreme hydrophobicity on the clinical applications., Methods: Lecithin was selected to increase the volume of the core of lb MPMs, thereby providing a greater solubilization capacity. A series of amphiphilic polymers (sodium deoxycholate [NaDOC], Cremophor ®, and Pluronic ® series) were included with lecithin for screening and optimization., Results: After preliminary evaluation and subsequentially optimization, two lb MPMs formulations composed of honokiol/magnolol:lecithin:NaDOC ( lb MPMs[NaDOC]) and honokiol/magnolol:lecithin:PP123 ( lb MPMs[PP123]) in respective ratios of 6:2:5 and 1:1:10 were optimally obtained with the mean particle sizes of 80-150 nm, encapsulation efficacy (EEs) of >90%, and drug loading (DL) of >9.0%. These lb MPMs efficiently stabilized honokiol/magnolol in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at room temperature or 4 °C and in fetal bovine serum or PBS at 37 °C. PK study demonstrated that lb MPMs[NaDOC] showed much improvement in enhancing bioavailability than that by lb MPMs[PP123] for both honokiol and magnolol. The absolute bioavailability for honokiol and magnolol after intravenous administration of lb MPMs[NaDOC] exhibited 0.93- and 3.4-fold increases, respectively, compared to that of free honokiol and magnolol. For oral administration with lb MPMs[NaDOC], the absolute bioavailability of honokiol was 4.8%, and the absolute and relative bioavailability of magnolol were 20.1% and 2.9-fold increase, respectively., Conclusion: Overall, honokiol/magnolol loaded in lb MPMs[NaDOC] showed an improvement of solubility with suitable physical characteristics leading to enhance honokiol and magnolol bioavailability and facilitating their wider application as therapeutic agents for treating human disorders., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2021 Lin et al.)

Background: The combination of a radioisotope with a chemotherapeutic agent in a liposomal carrier (ie, Indium-111-labeled polyethylene glycol pegylated liposomal vinorelbine, [(111)In-VNB-liposome]) has been reported to show better therapeutic efficiency in tumor growth suppression. Nevertheless, the challenge remains as to whether this therapeutic effect is attributable to the combination of a radioisotope with chemotherapeutics. The goal of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, and correlation of Indium-111 radioactivity and vinorelbine concentration in the (111)In-VNB-liposome., Methods: The VNB-liposome and (111)In-VNB-liposome were administered to rats. Blood, liver, and spleen tissue were collected to determine the distribution profile of the (111)In-VNB-liposome. A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry system and gamma counter were used to analyze the concentration of vinorelbine and radioactivity of Indium-111., Results: High uptake of the (111)In-VNB-liposome in the liver and spleen demonstrated the properties of a nanosized drug delivery system. Linear regression showed a good correlation (r = 0.97) between Indium-111 radioactivity and vinorelbine concentration in the plasma of rats administered the (111)In-VNB-liposome., Conclusion: A significant positive correlation between the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of (111)Indium radioactivity and vinorelbine in blood, spleen, and liver was found following administration of the (111)In-VNB-liposome. The liposome efficiently encapsulated both vinorelbine and Indium-111, and showed a similar concentration-radioactivity time profile, indicating the correlation between chemotherapy and radiotherapy could be identical in the liposomal formulation.