Paclitaxel, an effective anticance agent, has been applied as the first-line drug against breast and ovarian cancers. However, this application is limited owing to its low water solubility and high inflammatory response of the current excipient (Cremophore EL) for injection.~1 Thus, efforts to eliminate its side effects during administration have been numerous.~2,3,4 Among those methods, liposome is regarded as the most promising drug carrier. Despite a few drawbacks of liposome, such as limited paclitaxel content and long term stability, it appears to be biocompatible and has been speculated to decrease toxicity without changing its efficacy against tumor cells.~2,3 Besides, liposome is easily modified to improve the surface property and/or assemble with special ligands, which has the potential to increase circulation time in body and affinity to tumor cells. Therefore, this study develops a liposomal formulation capable of incorporating paclitaxel with high content and improving circulation time by embellishing liposome with MPEG.
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