Preparation and Characterization of Poly(2-oxazoline) Micelles for the Solubilization and Delivery of Water Insoluble Drugs
Natasha Vinod,
Duhyeong Hwang,
Salma Azam,
Amanda Van Swearingen,
Elizabeth Wayne,
Sloane Fussell,
Marina Sokolsky-Papkov,
Chad Pecot,
Alexander Kabanov
Affiliations
Natasha Vinod
Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery and Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USAJoint UNC/NC State Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Duhyeong Hwang
Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery and Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Salma Azam
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Amanda Van Swearingen
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Elizabeth Wayne
Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery and Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Sloane Fussell
Department of Biology, Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Marina Sokolsky-Papkov
Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery and Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Chad Pecot
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USADivision of Hematology & Oncology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Alexander Kabanov
Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery and Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USALaboratory of Chemical Design of Bionanomaterials, Faculty of Chemistry, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Many new drug development candidates are highly lipophilic compounds with low water solubility. This constitutes a formidable challenge for the use of such compounds for cancer therapy, where high doses and intravenous injections are needed (Di et al., 2012). Here, we present a poly(2-oxazoline) polymer (POx)-based nanoformulation strategy to solubilize and deliver hydrophobic drugs. POx micelles are prepared by a simple thin-film hydration method. In this method, the drug and polymer are dissolved in a common solvent and allowed to mix, following which the solvent is evaporated using mild heating conditions to form a thin film. The micelles form spontaneously upon hydration with saline. POx nanoformulation of hydrophobic drugs is unique in that it has a high drug loading capacity, which is superior to micelles of conventional surfactants. Moreover, multiple active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can be included within the same POx micelle, thereby enabling the codelivery of binary as well as ternary drug combinations (Han et al., 2012; He et al., 2016).
