Paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded
liposomes were developed with the goal of enhancing the effects of
cancer treatment. Although loading substances into the
lipid membrane of
liposome cause some destabilization of the
lipid membrane, PTX was nearly exclusively embedded in the
lipid membrane of
liposomes, due to its low water solubility. Hydrophobic drugs can be encapsulated into the inner core of
bovine serum albumin (BSA)-encapsulated
liposomes (BSA-
liposome) via noncovalent binding to
albumin. Since PTX is able to noncovalently bind to
albumin, we attempted to prepare PTX-loaded BSA-
liposome (PTX-BSA-
liposome). The amount of PTX loaded in the BSA-
liposome could be increased substantially by using
ethanol, since
ethanol increases PTX solubility in BSA solutions via prompting the binding PTX to BSA. On the basis of the results of transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering, PTX-BSA-
liposome formed
unilamellar vesicles that were spherical in shape and the PTX was encapsulated into the inner aqueous core of the
liposome as a form of PTX-BSA complex. In addition, the PTX-BSA-
liposome, as well as nab-PTX, showed cytotoxicity against human
pancreatic cancer cells, AsPC-1 cells, in a PTX concentration-dependent manner. The in vivo antitumor effect of PTX-BSA-
liposomes was also observed in a mouse model that had been subcutaneously inoculated with
pancreatic cancer cells by virtue of its high accumulation at the
tumor site via the enhanced permeability retention effect. These results suggest that PTX-BSA-
liposomes have the potential for serving as a novel PTX preparation method for the treatment of
pancreatic cancer.