Drug-drug interactions arising from the use of liposomal vincristine in combination with other anticancer drugs

Sustained Drug Release from Smart Nanoparticles in Cancer Therapy: A Comprehensive Review

Although nanomedicine has been highly investigated for cancer treatment over the past decades, only a few nanomedicines are currently approved and in the market; making this field poorly represented in clinical applications. Key research gaps that require optimization to successfully translate the use of nanomedicines have been identified, but not addressed; among these, the lack of control of the release pattern of therapeutics is the most important. To solve these issues with currently used nanomedicines (e.g., burst release, systemic release), different strategies for the design and manufacturing of nanomedicines allowing for better control over the therapeutic release, are currently being investigated. The inclusion of stimuli-responsive properties and prolonged drug release have been identified as effective approaches to include in nanomedicine, and are discussed in this paper. Recently, smart sustained release nanoparticles have been successfully designed to safely and efficiently deliver therapeutics with different kinetic profiles, making them promising for many drug delivery applications and in specific for cancer treatment. In this review, the state-of-the-art of smart sustained release nanoparticles is discussed, focusing on the design strategies and performances of polymeric nanotechnologies. A complete list of nanomedicines currently tested in clinical trials and approved nanomedicines for cancer treatment is presented, critically discussing advantages and limitations with respect to the newly developed nanotechnologies and manufacturing methods. By the presented discussion and the highlight of nanomedicine design criteria and current limitations, this review paper could be of high interest to identify key features for the design of release-controlled nanomedicine for cancer treatment.

Vincristine sulfate liposomal injection for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Vincristine (VCR) is one of the most extensively used cytotoxic compounds in hemato-oncology. VCR is particularly important for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a disease that accounts for approximately one-third of all childhood cancer diagnoses. VCR's full therapeutic potential has been limited by dose-limiting neurotoxicity, classically resulting in autonomic and peripheral sensory-motor neuropathy. In the last decade, however, the discovery that liposomal encapsulation of chemotherapeutics can modulate the pharmacokinetic characteristics of a compound has stimulated much interest in liposomal VCR (vincristine sulfate liposomal injection [VSLI]) formulations for the treatment of ALL and other hematological malignancies. Promising data from recent clinical trials investigating VSLI in adults with ALL resulted in US Food and Drug Administration approval for use in patients with Philadelphia chromosome (t[9;22]/BCR-ABL1) (Ph)-negative (Ph-) disease. Additional clinical trials of VSLI in adults and children with both Ph-positive (Ph+) and Ph- ALL are ongoing. Here we review the preclinical and clinical experience to date with VSLI for ALL.

Atomic force microscopy studies on circular DNA structural changes by vincristine and aspirin

In this chapter, we have presented materials and methods to study the interaction between DNA and small molecule drugs by AFM. The detailed AFM imaging of the circular DNA after incubation with -various concentrations of vincristine and aspirin have been demonstrated. The immobilization of DNA fragments on mica surface as well as the force between tip and sample plays an important role for successful imaging of DNA-drug complexes. How to quantitatively describe the conformations and structures of circular DNA molecules and their changes is also introduced. Our work indicates that the AFM is a powerful tool in studying the interaction between DNA and small molecules.

Atomic force microscopy studies on DNA structural changes induced by vincristine sulfate and aspirin

We report that atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies on structural variations of a linear plasmid DNA interact with various concentrations of vincristine sulfate and aspirin. The different binding images show that vincrinstine sulfate binding DNA chains caused some loops and cleavages of the DNA fragments, whereas aspirin interaction caused the width changes and conformational transition of the DNA fragments. Two different DNA structural alternations could be explained by the different mechanisms of the interactions with these two components. Our work indicates that the AFM is a powerful tool in studying the interaction between DNA and small molecules.