Pharmaceutics (Nov 2018)

Development of Parvifloron D-Loaded Smart Nanoparticles to Target Pancreatic Cancer

  • Ana Santos-Rebelo,
  • Catarina Garcia,
  • Carla Eleutério,
  • Ana Bastos,
  • Sílvia Castro Coelho,
  • Manuel A. N. Coelho,
  • Jesús Molpeceres,
  • Ana S. Viana,
  • Lia Ascensão,
  • João F. Pinto,
  • Maria M. Gaspar,
  • Patrícia Rijo,
  • Catarina P. Reis

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics10040216
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 4
p. 216

Abstract

Read online

Pancreatic cancer is the eighth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. For this reason, the development of more effective therapies is a major concern for the scientific community. Accordingly, plants belonging to Plectranthus genus and their isolated compounds, such as Parvifloron D, were found to have cytotoxic and antiproliferative activities. However, Parvifloron D is a very low water-soluble compound. Thus, nanotechnology can be a promising delivery system to enhance drug solubility and targeted delivery. The extraction of Parvifloron D from P. ecklonii was optimized through an acetone ultrasound-assisted method and isolated by Flash-Dry Column Chromatography. Then, its antiproliferative effect was selectivity evaluated against different cell lines (IC50 of 0.15 ± 0.05 μM, 11.9 ± 0.7 μM, 21.6 ± 0.5, 34.3 ± 4.1 μM, 35.1 ± 2.2 μM and 32.1 ± 4.3 μM for BxPC3, PANC-1, Ins1-E, MCF-7, HaCat and Caco-2, respectively). To obtain an optimized stable Parvifloron D pharmaceutical dosage form, albumin nanoparticles were produced through a desolvation method (yield of encapsulation of 91.2%) and characterized in terms of size (165 nm; PI 0.11), zeta potential (−7.88 mV) and morphology. In conclusion, Parvifloron D can be efficiently obtained from P. ecklonii and it has shown selective cytotoxicity to pancreatic cell lines. Parvifloron D nanoencapsulation can be considered as a possible efficient alternative approach in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Keywords