Nanoemulsion: An advanced vehicle for anti-cancer drug delivery 1
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Usama Ahmad , Juber Akhtar , Farhan Jalees Ahmad 1. Department of Pharmaceutics, Integral University, Lucknow, India 2. Department of Pharmaceutics, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India
Email: usamaahmad.10@outlook.com
INTRODUCTION
Nanoemulsions are submicron emulsions aimed to improve the delivery of therapeutic agents. These are stable isotropic mixtures of oil and water stabilized by a surfactant. Size of nanoemulsions fall in the range of 20-200nm. Advantages include optical clarity, biocompatibility, ease of manufacture, high drug encapsulation and formulation stability for a longer period of time. These attributes makes them well suited for delivering anti-cancer therapeutic agents. Designing of novel nanoformulations greatly depends upon the site of tumor and nature of tumor microenvironment.
CANCER - LATEST STATISTICS IN USA Cancer is a leading cause of death group in United States and NCI has projected that about 595,690 people may die due to cancer [1]. The main types of cancer and number of deaths in 2016 (till now in USA) are: • Lung (158,080 deaths) • Stomach (10,730 deaths) • Colorectal (49190 deaths) • Liver (27110 deaths) • Breast (40890 deaths)
FORMULATION TECHNIQUES FOR NANOEMULSION Nanoemulsions can be prepared by both low energy as well as high energy methods [3]. Some of the widely used techniques include1. Aqueous titration method 2. High pressure homogenization method 3. Solvent displacement method 4. Phase inversion temperature method 5. Spontaneous emulsification method 6. Microfluidization method List of anti-cancer drugs delivered by nanoemulsion
More than 70% of all cancer deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Deaths from cancer worldwide are projected to continue rising, with an estimated 11.5 million deaths in 2030 [2]
STRUCTURE OF NANOEMULSION
• Paclitexel • Curcumin • Cisplatin • Gadolinium • Quercitin
• Dacarbazine • Caffeine • Tamoxifen • Rutin • Silymarin
Figure 2.Difference in visual appearance of nanoemulsion (right) and emulsion (left)
Endothelial cells
Tumor cells
Nanoemulsion
Oil
(a) Oil in water type
surfactant head
Water
(b) Water in oil type
Figure 1. Structure of nanoemulsion droplet (a) Oil-in-water type (b) Water-in-oil type
Figure 3. Passive targeting of nanoemulsion to tumor cells Conclusion: Nanoemulsion due to their safety, efficacy, ease of manufacture and higher stability are considered to be an efficient nanocarrier for targeting to cancer cells. References: 1. Siegel, R. L., Miller, K. D. and Jemal, A. (2016), Cancer statistics, 2016. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 66: 7–30 2. ‘Cancer’ NMH Fact sheet January 2010. WHO www.who.int/cancer 3. Qadir, A., Faiyazuddin, M.D., Hussain, M.T., Alshammari, T.M. and Shakeel, F., 2016. Critical steps and energetics involved in a successful development of a stable nanoemulsion. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 214, pp.7-18.
Poster presented during ‘6th Virtual NANOPOSTER event 2016' organised by ‘The International Nanoscience Community’