Amphiphilic diblock copolymers composed of methoxy poly
ethylene glycol (MePEG) and
poly epsilon caprolactone (PCL) were synthesized for the formation of
micelles by ring opening mechanism using
stannous octoate as a catalyst. The effects of the molecular weight of MePEG and the copolymer ratio on the properties of
micelles were investigated by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ((1)H-NMR), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC). The diblock copolymers were self-assembled to form
micelles and their hydrophobic core was used for the encapsulation of the anti-
cancer drug (
etoposide) in aqueous
solution. The sizes of
micelles were less than 250 nm with a narrow size distribution with monodispersed unimodal pattern. Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) thermogram was done for
etoposide-loaded
micelles to understand the crystalline nature of the
drug after entrapment. A
drug loading capacity up to 60% (w/w) with an entrapment efficiency of 68% was achieved as determined by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). In vitro release kinetics showed a biphasic release pattern of
etoposide for 2 weeks. The cytotoxic efficacy of the
etoposide-loaded
micelles demonstrated greater anti-proliferative activity (IC(50) = 1.1 microg/ml) as compared to native
drug (IC(50) = 6.3 microg/ml) in
pancreatic cancer cell line MIA-PaCa-2. Thus,
etoposide-loaded
MePEG/PCL block copolymeric
micelles can be used as an efficient
drug delivery vehicle for
pancreatic cancer therapy.