In vitro cytotoxicity of magnetic-fluorescent bioactive glasses on SaOS-2, MC3T3-E1, BJ fibroblast cells, their hemolytic activity, and sorafenib release behavior

In the study, the fabrication of superparamagnetic-fluorescent bioactive glasses in the form of the particle, nanofiber, and 3D scaffolds was performed by including maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) nanoparticles and photoluminescent rare earth element ions (Eu3+, Gd3+, and Yb3+) using sol-gel, electrospinning, and robocasting techniques, respectively. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the magnetic-fluorescent bioactive glasses on osteosarcoma SaOS-2, pre-osteoblast MC3T3-E1, and BJ fibroblast cells, as well as their hemolytic activity and sorafenib tosylate loading and release behavior, were investigated. The cytotoxicity of the bioactive glass samples was tested using the MTT assay. Additionally, the alkaline phosphatase activity of the studied glasses was examined as a function of time. The mineralization behavior of the pre-osteoblast cell-seeded glass samples was analyzed using Alizarin red S staining. Results revealed that the in vitro cytotoxicity of the studied bioactive glasses in the form of particles and nanofibers depended on the sample concentration, whereas in the case of the 3D scaffolds, no cytotoxic response was observed on the osteosarcoma, pre-osteoblast, and fibroblast cells. Similarly, particle and nanofiber-based glass samples induced dose-dependent hemolysis on red blood cells. Drug loading rates were much lower for the 3D scaffolds compared to the particle and nanofiber-based samples. Drug release rates ranged from 25 % to 90 %, depending on the bioactive glass morphology and the pH of the release medium. It was concluded that the studied bioactive glasses have the potential to be used in tissue engineering applications and cancer therapy.

Inhalable spray-dried polycaprolactone-based microparticles of Sorafenib Tosylate with promising efficacy on A549 cells

The study developed and evaluated Sorafenib Tosylate (SRT)-loaded polymeric microparticles (MPs) using biodegradable polymer polycaprolactone (PCL) as a potential inhalable carrier for NSCLC. MPs were prepared by spray-drying an oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion. The optimized MPs demonstrated excellent flowability, particle size of 2.84 ± 0.5 μm, zeta potential of -14.0 ± 1.5 mV, and 85.08 ± 5.43% entrapment efficiency. ATR-FTIR/DSC studies revealed a lack of characteristic peaks of the crystalline drug signifying good entrapment of the drug. MPs were spherical and uniform in SEM pictures. The MPs showed a biphasic release pattern up to 72h. The Anderson cascade impactor (ACI) investigation demonstrated the highest drug deposition at stage 4, which revealed that the MPs can reach the lungs' secondary and terminal bronchi. Inhalable MPs had an efficient aerodynamic property with a mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) of 2.63 ± 1.3 μm, a geometric standard deviation (GSD) of 1.93 ± 0.2 μm, and a fine particle fraction (FPF) of 87 ± 2.5%. Finally, in cytotoxicity studies on A549 cancer cells, MPs had an IC50 value of 0.6011 ± 0.8 μM, which was 85.68% lower than free drug. These findings suggest SRT-loaded inhalable PCL-based MPs as a novel NSCLC treatment.

Transferrin-Modified Nanoliposome Codelivery Strategies for Enhancing the Cancer Therapy

Chemotherapy remains one of the most effective treatments for many cancers in a clinic. At present, various targets have been used to modify the PEGylated liposomes for doxorubicin (Dox) delivery, but the antitumor effect of Dox is not satisfactory. Therefore, combination chemotherapeutics has been considered as a promising method to improve tumor treatment. These years, RAF/MEK/ERK-mediated cell signaling pathway has been discovered to inhibit the growth of tumors. Thus, Sorafenib tosylate (Sor) was used in this study, which directly inhibited tumor cell proliferation through blocking RAF/MEK/ERK-mediated cell signaling pathway and indirectly inhibited tumor cell growth through blocking angiogenesis by VEGFR and PDGF. In this article, we develop a "combination delivery system" to deliver the hydrophobic drug (Sor) in phospholipid bilayer and hydrophilic drug (Dox) in inner cores for enhancing the antitumor effect. Moreover, in vitro experiments verified whether the physicochemical properties of carriers were stable and transferrin-modified liposomes displayed the highest uptake. The results of in vivo experiments showed that the codelivery system inhibited the tumor growth more effectively than monotherapy. Overall, this combination delivery system for delivering the hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs simultaneously may offer a novel strategy for breast cancer treatment and provide a reference for the possibility of clinical usage.

LC-ESI-QTOF-MS analysis utilizing gas-phase fragmentation reactions subjected to ESI-IS-CID and ESI-CID-MS/MS conditions to study the degradation behaviour of sorafenib tosylate: NMR and in vitro cytotoxicity and apoptosis detection studies of hydrolytic degradation products

The present study was to investigate the degradation profile of sorafenib tosylate (SORA), a potent oral multi-kinase inhibitor under various stress conditions as per ICH (Q1A (R2)) guidelines. Separation of SORA and its degradation products (DP-1-DP-5) was achieved on Acquity UPLC BEH C18 (100 mm × 2.1 mm × 1.7 μm) column using a gradient elution of 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min within 12 min. High resolution quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Q-TOF/MS) was utilized for characterization of all DPs. In ESI/CID-MS/MS experiments, the protonated DP-1 and DP-2 exhibited few interesting product ions which provide a compelling evidence for the compounds to undergo gas phase rearrangement reaction justified by its mechanistic explanation in support with density functional theory (DFT). In-source collision-induced dissociation (IS-CID) fragmentation using ESI/APCI-MS analysis exhibited the formation of N-deoxygenated product ion peak corresponds to pyridine N-oxide moiety as in DP-5. Further, major hydrolytic DPs (DP-2 and DP-3) were isolated on preparative HPLC and structural elucidation was done using ID NMR (¹H, ¹³C and DEPT-135) experiments. In vitro cytotoxicity study for SORA and its isolated DPs were assessed by observing morphological changes in HepG2 cell lines under phase-contrast microscopy and MTT assay. Taken together, it was known that DP-2 and DP-3 were less potent with a cell viability of more than 90% and IC₅₀ >50 μM in comparison with SORA (IC₅₀ = 2.99 ± 0.35 μM). The developed method was validated in terms of specificity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, linearity, accuracy, precision and robustness.

Effect of PEGylation on assembly morphology and cellular uptake of poly ethyleneimine-cholesterol conjugates for delivery of sorafenib tosylate in hepatocellular carcinoma

Introduction: Sorafenib (SFB) is an FDA-approved chemotherapeutic agent with a high partition coefficient (log P = 4.34) for monotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The oral bioavailability is low and variable, so it was aimed to study the application of the polymeric nanoassembly of cholesterol conjugates of branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) for micellar solubilization of SFB and to investigate the impact of the polymer PEGylation on the physicochemical and cellular characteristics of the lipopolymeric dispersions. Methods: Successful synthesis of cholesterol-PEI lipopolymers, either native or PEGylated, was confirmed by FTIR, ¹H-NMR, pyrene assay methods. The nanoassemblies were also characterized in terms of morphology, particle size distribution and zeta-potential by TEM and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The SFB loading was optimized using general factorial design. Finally, the effect of particle characteristics on cellular uptake and specific cytotoxicity was investigated by flow cytometry and MTT assay in HepG2 cells. Results: Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that PEGylation of the lipopolymers reduces the size and changes the morphology of the nanoassembly from rod-like to spherical shape. However, PEGylation of the lipopolymer increased critical micelle concentration (CMC) and reduced the drug loading. Moreover, the particle shape changes from large rods to small spheres promoted the cellular uptake and SFB-related cytotoxicity. Conclusion: The combinatory effects of enhanced cellular uptake and reduced general cytotoxicity can present PEGylated PEI-cholesterol conjugates as a potential carrier for delivery of poorly soluble chemotherapeutic agents such as SFB in HCC that certainly requires further investigations in vitro and in vivo.

Improving anti-tumor activity of sorafenib tosylate by lipid- and polymer-coated nanomatrix

In the present study, we select the Sylysia 350 (Sylysia) as mesoporous material, distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine-poly(ethylene glycol)₂₀₀₀ (DSPE-PEG) as absorption enhancer and hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) as crystallization inhibitor to prepare sorafenib tosylate (SFN) nanomitrix (MSNM@SFN) for improving the anti-tumor activity of SFN. The MSNM@SFN was prepared by solvent evaporation method. The solubility, dissolution, and bioavailability of SFN in MSNM@SFN were also investigated. The anti-tumor activity of MSNM@SFN was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Our results indicated that the solubility and dissolution of SFN in MSNM@SFN were significantly increased. The oral bioavailability of SFN in MSNM@SFN was greatly improved 7.7-fold compared with that in SFN suspension. The enhanced anti-tumor activity of MSNM@SFN was confirmed in vitro and in vivo experiments. This nanomatrix developed in this study could be a promising drug delivery platform for improving the therapeutic efficacy of poorly water-soluble drugs.