Aim: Tamoxifen is a nonsteroidal estrogen receptor modulator indicated in the treatment of breast cancer. Apoptosis has been reported to be a major mechanism for its antitumor effect. Tamoxifen has also shown significant potential in treating various dermatological disorders including psoriasis, characterized by hyperproliferation of epidermal keratinocytes. An endeavor was made in the current studies to investigate the potency of vesicle-encapsulated tamoxifen on human epidermal keratinocyte cell lines.
Methods: Drug was encapsulated in the phospholipid-based vesicular systems, namely, conventional liposomes and flexible-membrane liposomes. In vitro cytotoxicity evaluation of the formulations was carried out employing MTT cell proliferation assay.
Results: A composition-dependent strong inhibition in the viability of epidermal keratinocyte cells was observed.
Conclusion: The encouraging findings of this work construe immense potential of the tamoxifen-encapsulated vesicular systems in the management of psoriasis.