Molecular Self-Assembly of Bile Acid-Phospholipids Controls the Delivery of Doxorubicin and Mice Survivability

Abstract

Lipid composition in general determines the drug encapsulation efficacy and release kinetics from liposomes that impact the clinical outcomes of cancer therapy. We synthesized three bile acid phospholipids by conjugating the phosphocholine headgroup to the 3′-hydroxyl group of benzylated lithocholic acid (LCA), deoxycholic acid (DCA), and cholic acid (CA); and investigated the impact of membrane rigidity on drug encapsulation efficacy, drug release kinetics, anticancer effects, and mice survival. Liposomes with a hydrodynamic diameter of 100–110 nm were subsequently developed using these phospholipids. Fluorescence-probe based quantification revealed a more fluidic nature of DCA-PC- and CA-PC-derived liposomes, whereas the LCA-PC-derived ones are rigid in nature. Doxorubicin encapsulation studies showed ∼75% encapsulation and ∼38% entrapment efficacy of doxorubicin using more fluidic DCA-PC and CA-PC derived liposomes as compared to ∼58% encapsulation and ∼18% entrapment efficacy in the case of LCA-PC derived liposomes. In vivo anticancer studies in the murine model confirmed that doxorubicin entrapped CA-PC liposomes compromise mice survival, whereas rigid drug entrapped LCA-PC-derived-liposomes increased mice survival with ∼2-fold decrease in tumor volume. Pharmacokinetic and biodistribution studies revealed an ∼1.5-fold increase in plasma drug concentration and an ∼4.0-fold rise in tumor accumulation of doxorubicin on treatment with drug entrapped LCA-PC liposomes as compared to doxorubicin alone. In summary, this study presents the impact of bile acid derived liposomes with different rigidities on drug delivery and mice survivability.