Development and optimization of nanostructured lipid systems containing phthalocyanins as a proposal for topical photodynamic therapy of skin cancer

• Grant number: 20/05534-7
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Technology
• Principal researcher: Maria Vitória Lopes Badra Bentley
• Grantee: Murilo Davoli Ferreira
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto (FCFRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Skin cancer represents the most common malignancy among Caucasians, with 76,000 new cases of melanoma in 2016, which represents 4.5% of all new cases of other cancers. The skin is an important route of administration for the treatment of various skin diseases, including skin cancer. Even with the growing interest in the route of cutaneous administration, there are still challenges to be overcome, the greatest of which is the limitation of the penetration of molecules through the stratum corneum. In order to overcome this obstacle, some strategies are used to try to penetrate or alter the structure of the stratum corneum. The use of lipid nanoparticulate systems is one of these strategies. In order to treat skin cancer, the association of nanostructured lipid systems, which will carry photosensitizing molecules, will be used with photodynamic therapy (TFD), a non-invasive technique which involves the application of photosensitizers in the region where the cancer cells are located, followed by exposure of the region to a light source of a specific wavelength. Thus, the present project proposes to develop two nanostructured lipid systems in their optimized form to carry different phthalocyanines, to compare and evaluate them in terms of their efficiency to encapsulate these drugs, as well as in vitro performance to release the drugs in the / through the skin in an in vitro animal model.