Enhanced antitumour efficacy of functionalized doxorubicin plus schisandrin B co-delivery liposomes via inhibiting epithelial-mesenchymal transition

The effectiveness of blood-activating and stasis-transforming traditional Chinese medicines (BAST) in lung cancer progression-a comprehensive review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Blood-activating and stasis-transforming traditional Chinese medicines (BAST) are a class of herbs that have the effect of dilating blood vessels and dispersing stagnation. Modern pharmaceutical research has demonstrated that they are capable of improving hemodynamics and micro-flow, resist thrombosis and promote blood flow. BAST contain numerous active ingredients, which can theoretically regulate multiple targets at the same time and have a wide range of pharmacological effects in the treatment of diseases including human cancers. Clinically, BAST have minimal side effects and can be used in combination with Western medicine to improve patients' quality of life, lessen adverse effects and minimize the risk of recurrence and metastasis of cancers.

AIM OF THE REVIEW

We aimed to summarize the research progression of BAST on lung cancer in the past five years and present a prospect for the future. Particularly, this review further analyzes the effects and molecular mechanisms that BAST inhibit the invasion and metastasis of lung cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Relevant studies about BSAT were collected from PubMed and Web of science.

RESULTS

Lung cancer is one of the malignant tumors with the highest mortality rate. Most patients with lung cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage and are highly susceptible to metastasis. Recent studies have shown that BAST, a class of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with the function of opening veins and dispersing blood stasis, significantly improve hemodynamics and microcirculation, prevent thrombosis and promote blood flow, and thereby inhibiting the invasion and metastasis of lung cancer. In the current review, we analyzed 51 active ingredients extracted from BAST. It was found that BAST and their active ingredients contribute to the prevention of invasion and metastasis of lung cancer through multiple mechanisms, such as regulation of EMT process, specific signaling pathway and metastasis-related genes, tumor blood vessel formation, immune microenvironment and inflammatory response of tumors.

CONCLUSIONS

BSAT and its active ingredients have showed promising anticancer activity and significantly inhibit the invasion and metastasis of lung cancer. A growing number of studies have realized their potential clinical significance in the therapy of lung cancer, which will provide substantial evidences for the development of new TCM for lung cancer therapy.

Codelivery of Phytochemicals with Conventional Anticancer Drugs in Form of Nanocarriers

Anticancer drugs in monotherapy are ineffective to treat various kinds of cancer due to the heterogeneous nature of cancer. Moreover, available anticancer drugs possessed various hurdles, such as drug resistance, insensitivity of cancer cells to drugs, adverse effects and patient inconveniences. Hence, plant-based phytochemicals could be a better substitute for conventional chemotherapy for treatment of cancer due to various properties: lesser adverse effects, action via multiple pathways, economical, etc. Various preclinical studies have demonstrated that a combination of phytochemicals with conventional anticancer drugs is more efficacious than phytochemicals individually to treat cancer because plant-derived compounds have lower anticancer efficacy than conventional anticancer drugs. Moreover, phytochemicals suffer from poor aqueous solubility and reduced bioavailability, which must be resolved for efficacious treatment of cancer. Therefore, nanotechnology-based novel carriers are employed for codelivery of phytochemicals and conventional anticancer drugs for better treatment of cancer. These novel carriers include nanoemulsion, nanosuspension, nanostructured lipid carriers, solid lipid nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, polymeric micelles, dendrimers, metallic nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes that provide various benefits of improved solubility, reduced adverse effects, higher efficacy, reduced dose, improved dosing frequency, reduced drug resistance, improved bioavailability and higher patient compliance. This review summarizes various phytochemicals employed in treatment of cancer, combination therapy of phytochemicals with anticancer drugs and various nanotechnology-based carriers to deliver the combination therapy in treatment of cancer.

Nano-drug co-delivery system of natural active ingredients and chemotherapy drugs for cancer treatment: a review

Chemotherapy drugs have been used for a long time in the treatment of cancer, but serious side effects are caused by the inability of the drug to be solely delivered to the tumor when treating cancer with chemotherapy. Natural products have attracted more and more attention due to the antitumor effect in multiple ways, abundant resources and less side effects. Therefore, the combination of natural active ingredients and chemotherapy drugs may be an effective antitumor strategy, which can inhibit the growth of tumor and multidrug resistance, reduce side effects of chemotherapy drugs. Nano-drug co-delivery system (NDCDS) can play an important role in the combination of natural active ingredients and chemotherapy drugs. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the research status and application prospect of nano-delivery strategies for the combination of natural active ingredients and chemotherapy drugs, aiming to provide a basis for the development of anti-tumor drugs.

Enhanced anti-breast cancer efficacy of co-delivery liposomes of docetaxel and curcumin

The successful treatment of breast cancer is hampered by toxicity to normal cells, impaired drug accumulation at the tumor site, and multidrug resistance. We designed a novel multifunctional liposome, CUR-DTX-L, to co-deliver curcumin (CUR) and the chemotherapeutic drug docetaxel (DTX) for the treatment of breast cancer in order to address multidrug resistance (MDR) and the low efficacy of chemotherapy. The mean particle size, polydispersity index, zeta potential, and encapsulation efficiency of CUR-DTX-L were 208.53 ± 6.82 nm, 0.055 ± 0.001, -23.1 ± 2.1 mV, and 98.32 ± 2.37%, respectively. An in vitro release study and CCK-8 assays showed that CUR-DTX-L has better sustained release effects and antitumor efficacy than free drugs, the antitumor efficacy was verified by MCF-7 tumor-bearing mice, the CUR-DTX-L showed better antitumor efficacy than other groups, and the in vivo pharmacokinetic study indicated that the plasma concentration-time curve, mean residence time, and biological half-life time of CUR-DTX-L were significantly increased compared with free drugs, suggesting that it is a promising drug delivery system for the synergistic treatment of breast cancer.

Schisandrin B synergizes docetaxel-induced restriction of growth and invasion of cervical cancer cells in vitro and in vivo

Background

Cervical cancer is a prevalent tumor in women. Here we investigated the synergic effects of Schisandrin B (Sch B), an active compound extracted from the Chinese herb Schisandra Chinensis, in docetaxel (DTX)-induced restriction of growth and invasion of cervical cancer.

Methods

Caski cells were treated with Sch B and DTX for 24 hours. In vitro effects were investigated with Cell counting kit-8, western blotting, colony-forming, Transwell, Annexin V-FITC enabled flow cytometry. Then, in vivo experiments were engaged with Sch B (20 mg/kg) and DTX (10 mg/kg) for 30 days, and IHC were applied to validate the effects in vivo.

Results

Both Sch B and DTX reduced cell viability, inhibited colony formatting, induced apoptosis, and limited cell invasion. Co-administration of Sch B and DTX more significantly enhanced these changes. The relative levels of HPV infection and tumor progression related proteins p-AKT/AKT, NF-kappaB, Cyclin D1, CDK-4, MMP-9, Notch1, β-catenin and p-p38/p38 were markedly inactivated. The effects of Sch B in cervical cancer were further confirmed in Caski cell-xenograft BALB/c nude mice. Co-administration of Sch B enhanced the anti-tumor effects of DTX in vivo, inhibited tumor formation, increased apoptotic cells, and reduced Ki67 and N-cadherin expression.

Conclusions

Altogether, Sch B enhanced the anti-tumor effects of DTX in vitro and in vivo via growth, invasion, and apoptosis regulating. The results supported therapies of co-administering Sch B and DTX to be developed in cervical cancer.