ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Vinorelbine bitartrate (VRL), a semi synthetic vinca alkaloid approved for breast cancer, has been proven to be beneficial as first line and subsequent therapies. However, its hydrophilic and thermo labile nature provides hindrance to oral clinical translation. OBJECTIVES: The current work focused on the application of DOE a modern statistical optimization tool for the development and optimization of a solid lipid nanoparticle (SLN) formulation that can encapsulate hydrophilic and thermolabile Vinorelbine bitartrate (VRL) to a maximum extent without compromising integrity and anticancer activity of the drug. METHODS: SLNs were prepared by solvent diffusion technique employing Taguchi orthogonal array design with optimized formulation and process variables. The emulsifying nature and low melting point of glyceryl mono-oleate (GMO) were exploited to enhance entrapment and minimizing temperature associated degradation, respectively. Moreover, two types of surfactants, Vitamin E TPGS (TPGS) and Poloxamer-188 were utilized to obtain TPGS-VRL-SLNs and PL-VRL-SLNs, respectively. The SLNs were characterized for various physicochemical properties, in-vitro drug release kinetics and anticancer activity by MTT assay on MCF-7 cancer cell lines. RESULTS: The SLNs were found to be spherical in shape with entrapment efficiency (EE) up to 58 %. Invitro release studies showed biphasic release pattern following Korsemeyer peppas model with fickian release kinetics. Results of MTT assay revealed that TPGS-VRL-SLNs and PL-VRL-SLNs were 39.5 and 18.5 fold more effective, respectively, compared to the pristine VRL. CONCLUSION: DOE approach was successfully applied for the development of VRL-SLNs. Enhanced entrapment and anticancer efficacy of TPGS-VRL-SLN can be attributed to emulsifying nature of GMO and inherent cytotoxic nature of TPGS, respectively, which synergizes with VRL. Therefore, TPGS associated SLNs may be potential carrier in cancer chemotherapeutics.
