This study aimed to examine the efficacy of epirubicin-loaded gelatin hydrogel (EPI-H) in the treatment of superficial urothelium carcinoma. Hydrogel was prepared by Schiff base-crosslinking of gelatin with glutaraldehyde. EPI-H exhibited high entrapment efficiency (59.87% ± 0.51%). EPI-H also increased epirubicin accumulation in AY-27 cells when compared with the effect of aqueous solutions of epirubicin (EPI-AQ); respective epirubicin-positive cell counts were 69.0% ± 7.6% and 38.3% ± 5.8%. EPI-H also exhibited greater cytotoxicity against AY-27 cells than that of EPI-AQ; IC50 values were 13.1 ± 1.1 and 7.5 ± 0.3 μg/mL, respectively. Cystometrograms showed that EPI-H reduced peak micturition, threshold pressures, and micturition duration, and that it increased bladder compliance more so than EPI-AQ. EPI-H enhanced epirubicin penetration into basal cells of urothelium in vivo, whereas EPI-AQ did so only to the umbrella cells. EPI-H inhibited tumor growth upon intravesical instillation to tumor-bearing bladder of F344 rats, inducing higher levels of caspase-3 expression than that observed with EPI-AQ treatment; the number of caspase-3 positive cells in treated urothelium carcinoma was 13.9% ± 4.0% (EPI-AQ) and 34.1% ± 1.0%, (EPI-H). EPI-H has value as an improved means to administer epirubicin in intravesical instillation treatments for bladder cancer.
Keywords: bladder cancer; epirubicin; hydrogel; intravesical.