Modulating the therapeutic activity of nanoparticle delivered paclitaxel by manipulating the hydrophobicity of prodrug conjugates.

A series of paclitaxel prodrugs designed for formulation in lipophilic nanoparticles are described. The hydrophobicity of paclitaxel was increased by conjugating a succession of increasingly hydrophobic lipid anchors to the drug using succinate or diglycolate cross-linkers. The prodrugs were formulated in well defined block copolymer-stabilized nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were shown to have an elimination half-life of approximately 24 h in vivo. The rate at which the prodrug was released from the nanoparticles could be controlled by adjusting the hydrophobicity of the lipid anchor, resulting in release half-lives ranging from 1 to 24 h. The diglycolate and succinate cross-linked prodrugs were 1-2 orders of magnitude less potent than paclitaxel in vitro. Nanoparticle formulations of the succinate prodrugs showed no evidence of efficacy in HT29 human colorectal tumor xenograph models. Efficacy of diglycolate prodrug nanoparticles increased as the anchor hydrophobicity increased. Long circulating diglycolate prodrug nanoparticles provided significantly enhanced therapeutic activity over commercially formulated paclitaxel at the maximum tolerated dose.

Increased preclinical efficacy of irinotecan and floxuridine coencapsulated inside liposomes is associated with tumor delivery of synergistic drug ratios.

Whether anticancer drug combinations act synergistically or antagonistically often depends on the ratio of the agents being combined. We show here that combinations of irinotecan and floxuridine exhibit drug ratio-dependent cytotoxicity in a broad panel of tumor cell lines in vitro where a 1:1 molar ratio consistently provided synergy and avoided antagonism. In vivo delivery of irinotecan and floxuridine coencapsulated inside liposomes at the synergistic 1:1 molar ratio (referred to as CPX-1) lead to greatly enhanced efficacy compared to the two drugs administered as a saline-based cocktail in a number of human xenograft and murine tumor models. When compared to liposomal irinotecan or liposomal floxuridine, the therapeutic activity of CPX-1 in vivo was not only superior to the individual liposomal agents, but the extent of tumor growth inhibition was greater than that predicted for combining the activities of the individual agents. In contrast, liposome delivery of irinotecan:floxuridine ratios shown to be antagonistic in vitro provided antitumor activity that was actually less than that achieved with liposomal irinotecan alone, indicative of in vivo antagonism. Synergistic antitumor activity observed for CPX-1 was associated with maintenance of the 1:1 irinotecan:floxuridine molar ratio in plasma and tumor tissue over 16-24 h. In contrast, injection of the drugs combined in saline resulted in irinotecan:floxuridine ratios that changed 10-fold within 1 h in plasma and sevenfold within 4 h in tumor tissue. These results indicate that substantial improvements in the efficacy of drug combinations may be achieved by maintaining in vitro-identified synergistic drug ratios after systemic administration using drug delivery vehicles.

Ratiometric dosing of anticancer drug combinations: controlling drug ratios after systemic administration regulates therapeutic activity in tumor-bearing mice.

Anticancer drug combinations can act synergistically or antagonistically against tumor cells in vitro depending on the ratios of the individual agents comprising the combination. The importance of drug ratios in vivo, however, has heretofore not been investigated, and combination chemotherapy treatment regimens continue to be developed based on the maximum tolerated dose of the individual agents. We systematically examined three different drug combinations representing a range of anticancer drug classes with distinct molecular mechanisms (irinotecan/floxuridine, cytarabine/daunorubicin, and cisplatin/daunorubicin) for drug ratio-dependent synergy. In each case, synergistic interactions were observed in vitro at certain drug/drug molar ratio ranges (1:1, 5:1, and 10:1, respectively), whereas other ratios were additive or antagonistic. We were able to maintain fixed drug ratios in plasma of mice for 24 hours after i.v. injection for all three combinations by controlling and overcoming the inherent dissimilar pharmacokinetics of individual drugs through encapsulation in liposomal carrier systems. The liposomes not only maintained drug ratios in the plasma after injection, but also delivered the formulated drug ratio directly to tumor tissue. In vivo maintenance of drug ratios shown to be synergistic in vitro provided increased efficacy in preclinical tumor models, whereas attenuated antitumor activity was observed when antagonistic drug ratios were maintained. Fixing synergistic drug ratios in pharmaceutical carriers provides an avenue by which anticancer drug combinations can be optimized prospectively for maximum therapeutic activity during preclinical development and differs from current practice in which dosing regimens are developed empirically in late-stage clinical trials based on tolerability.