High antiangiogenic and low anticoagulant efficacy of orally active low molecular weight heparin derivatives.

Heparin, an anticoagulant that is widely used clinically, is also known to bind to several kinds of proteins through electrostatic interactions because of its polyanionic character. These interactions are mediated by the physicochemical properties of heparin such as sequence composition, sulfation patterns, charge distribution, overall charge density, and molecular size. Although this electrostatic character mediates its binding to many proteins related with tumor progression, thereby providing its antiangiogenic property, the administration of heparin for treating cancer is limited in clinical applications due to several drawbacks, such as its low oral absorption, unsatisfactory therapeutic effects, and strong anticoagulant activity which induces hemorrhaging. Here, we evaluated novel, orally active, low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) derivatives (LHD) conjugated with deoxycholic acid (DOCA) that show reduced anticoagulant activity and enhanced antiangiogenic activity. The chemical conjugate of LMWH and DOCA was synthesized by conjugating the amine group of N-deoxycholylethylamine (EtDOCA) with the carboxylic groups of heparin at various DOCA conjugation ratios. The LMWH-DOCA conjugate series (LHD1, LHD1.5, LHD2, and LHD4) were further formulated with poloxamer 407 as a solubilizer for oral administration. An in vitro endothelial tubular formation and in vivo Matrigel plug assay were performed to verify the antiangiogenic potential of LHD. Finally, we evaluated tumor growth inhibition of oral LHD administration in a SCC7 model as well as in A549 human cancer cell lines in a mouse xenograft model. Increasing DOCA conjugation ratios showed decreased anticoagulant activity, eventually to zero. LHD could block angiogenesis in the tubular formation assay and the Matrigel plug assay. In particular, oral administration of LHD4, which has 4 molecules of DOCA per mole of LMWH, inhibited tumor growth in SCC7 mice model as well as A549 mice xenograft model. LHD4 was orally absorbable, showed minimal anticoagulant activity and inhibits tumor growth via antiangiogenesis. These findings demonstrate the therapeutic potential of LHD4 as a new oral anti-cancer drug.

Delivery of interleukin-18 gene to lung cancer cells using cationic emulsion.

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is known to reduce melanoma lung metastases through various mechanisms. For the delivery of IL-18 gene into the lung, three different cationic emulsions as non-viral vectors were formulated using the same components of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DOPE), 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-trimethylammonium propane (DOTAP), and Tween 80 with distinct oils. By using the small particle size of physicochemically stable E3, the complex of E3/plasmid DNA encoding IL-18 (16:2.5, w/w) was transfected into lung cancer cells, and the amount of plasmid DNA transferred and the expression of both mRNA and protein for IL-18 were measured. When compared with Lipofectamine/DNA complexes, an E3/DNA complex was less toxic and induced a comparable cellular level of plasmid DNA and expression levels of both mRNA and protein for IL-18. After injecting E3/DNA complexes into mice, the distribution of plasmid DNA was the highest in the lung and the liver. Especially, the administration of E3/DNA complexes induced a more rapid and prolonged distribution of plasmid DNA encoding IL-18 into the lung than that of Lipofectamine/DNA ones. These data demonstrated that cationic emulsion E3 containing castor oil could be useful for a delivery of IL-18 gene targeting the lung as well as the liver without an additional homing device, implying a potential IL-18 delivery system for the treatment of lung cancer.

Physicochemical properties and oral bioavailability of amorphous atorvastatin hemi-calcium using spray-drying and SAS process.

The objective of the study was to prepare amorphous atorvastatin hemi-calcium using spray-drying and supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process and evaluate its physicochemical properties and oral bioavailability. Atorvastatin hemi-calcium trihydrate was transformed to anhydrous amorphous form by spray-drying and SAS process. With the SAS process, the mean particle size and the specific surface area of amorphous atorvastatin were drastically changed to 68.7+/-15.8nm, 120.35+/-1.40m2/g and 95.7+/-12.2nm, 79.78+/-0.93m2/g from an acetone solution and a tetrahydrofuran solution, respectively and appeared to be associated with better performance in apparent solubility, dissolution and pharmacokinetic studies, compared with unprocessed crystalline atorvastatin. Oral AUC0-8h values in SD rats for crystalline and amorphous atorvastatin were as follow: 1121.4+/-212.0ngh/mL for crystalline atorvastatin, 3249.5+/-406.4ngh/mL and 3016.1+/-200.3ngh/mL for amorphous atorvastatin from an acetone solution and a tetrahydrofuran solution with SAS process, 2227.8+/-274.5 and 2099.9+/-339.2ngh/mL for amorphous atorvastatin from acetone and tetrahydrofuran with spray-drying. The AUCs of all amorphous atorvastatin significantly increased (P<0.05) compared with crystalline atorvastatin, suggesting that the enhanced bioavailability was attributed to amorphous nature and particle size reduction. In addition, the SAS process exhibits better bioavailability than spray-drying because of particle size reduction with narrow particle size distribution. It was concluded that physicochemical properties and bioavailability of crystalline atorvastatin could be improved by physical modification such as particle size reduction and generation of amorphous state using spray-drying and SAS process. Further, SAS process was a powerful methodology for improving the physicochemical properties and bioavailability of atorvastatin.

Paroxetine hydrochloride controlled release POLYOX matrix tablets: screening of formulation variables using Plackett-Burman screening design.

The aim of the present study was to screen the effects of the formulation variables - POLYOX molecular weight (X1), the ratio of POLYOX/Avicel PH102 (X2) and the amount of POLYOX and Avicel PH102 (X3), hardness (X4), HPMCP amount (X5), Eudragit L100 amount (X6), and citric acid amount (X7) - on the paroxetine hydrochloride release from POLYOX matrix tablet using the Plackett-Burman screening design. Paroxetine hydrochloride matrix tablets were prepared according to a 7-factor-12-run statistical model and subjected to a 8-h dissolution study in Tris buffer at pH 7.5. The regression results showed that POLYOX molecular weight (X1) and POLYOX/Avicel PH102 ratio (X2) had significantly influence on the drug release mechanism and drug release rate as main effects. Hardness (X4) had an insignificant effect on the drug release mechanism but a significant effect on the drug release rate. On the other hand, HPMCP, Eudragit L100 and citric acid had an insignificant effect on the both responses. The information obtained by screening design study can be expected to be useful for further formulation studies.

Preparation, characterization and in vivo evaluation of amorphous atorvastatin calcium nanoparticles using supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process.

In this work, amorphous atorvastatin calcium nanoparticles were successfully prepared using the supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process. The effect of process variables on particle size and distribution of atorvastatin calcium during particle formation was investigated. Solid state characterization, solubility, intrinsic dissolution, powder dissolution studies and pharmacokinetic study in rats were performed. Spherical particles with mean particle size ranging between 152 and 863 nm were obtained by varying process parameters such as precipitation vessel pressure and temperature, drug solution concentration and feed rate ratio of CO2/drug solution. XRD, TGA, FT-IR, FT-Raman, NMR and HPLC analysis indicated that atorvastatin calcium existed as anhydrous amorphous form and no degradation occurred after SAS process. When compared with crystalline form (unprocessed drug), amorphous atorvastatin calcium nanoparticles were of better performance in solubility and intrinsic dissolution rate, resulting in higher solubility and faster dissolution rate. In addition, intrinsic dissolution rate showed a good correlation with the solubility. The dissolution rates of amorphous atorvastatin calcium nanoparticles were highly increased in comparison with unprocessed drug by the enhancement of intrinsic dissolution rate and the reduction of particle size resulting in an increased specific surface area. The absorption of atorvastatin calcium after oral administration of amorphous atorvastatin calcium nanoparticles to rats was markedly increased.