| Grant number: | 14/08462-6 |
| Support Opportunities: | Regular Research Grants |
| Start date: | September 01, 2014 |
| End date: | April 30, 2017 |
| Field of knowledge: | Health Sciences - Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Technology |
| Principal Investigator: | Juliana Maldonado Marchetti |
| Grantee: | Juliana Maldonado Marchetti |
| Host Institution: | Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto (FCFRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil |
| Associated researchers: | Priscyla Daniely Marcato Gaspari |
Abstract
Ovarian cancer (adenocarcinoma) occurs in 50% of cases of malignant tumors of the ovaries and presents bilaterally in 30-50% of patients. The highest lethality of this cancer is due to late diagnosis. In Brazil, 6,000 new cases were estimated in 2012, and in 2010, approximately 3,000 deads. This type of cancer tends to be aggressive and do not have a test to detect "early" and most patients when diagnosed are in stage III and IV of the disease, stage which cancer is spread into the peritoneal cavity . Although paclitaxel is the drug of choice for the treatment of ovarian cancer, this drug has low aqueous solubility which reduces its bioavailability. Therefore, new formulations have been developed with the newer drug, Taxol ®, despite increasing solubility of paclitaxel presents high toxicity to contain a mixture of ethanol and Cremophor EL® and this emulsifying agent provides various toxic side effects. In addition, the resistance to this treatment occurs in more than 70% of patients. Thus, the development of new formulations with paclitaxel is very relevant. Nanotechnology has been widely used for the placement of several drugs and a new generation of site-specific nanoparticles have been developed allowing an increase in permeability and retention effect (EPR) in the tumor vasculature, assisting the penetration of active anti-cancer drugs. This targeting can be increased by attaching antibodies or other ligands such as folate that recognize tumor-associated receptor, increasing exposure to malignant cells and decreasing the exposure to the normal cells. Based on these, the aim of this work is to develop, characterize and compare polymeric nanoparticles containing paclitaxel, functionalized with folate, aiming to optimize the treatment of ovarian cancer, assessed by cell culture and animal model. The physicochemical characterization involve the determination of encapsulation efficiency of the drug, measure particle size and zeta potential, morphology observation by scanning electron microscopy and transmission and in vitro determination release profile of paclitaxel . The immune-nanoparticles will be evaluated for efficacy and cytotoxicity of the systems obtained in strains of normal and tumor cells by XTT and flow cytometry, and in vivo model from the cellular induction of ovarian cancer. Finally, histopathological evaluation and analysis of the toxicity of the developed formulations will be performed. (AU)
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