Aim: To structurally modify our existing cholic acid (CA)-based telodendrimer (TD; PEG5K-CA8) for effective micellar nanoencapsulation and delivery of the US FDA-approved members of taxane family.
Materials & methods: Generation of hybrid TDs was achieved by replacing four of the eight CAs with biocompatible organic moieties using solution-phase peptide synthesis. Drug loading was done using the standard evaporation method.
Results: Hybrid TDs can generate micelles with narrow size distributions, low critical micelle concentration values (1-6 μM), better hematocompatibility and lack of in vitro cytotoxicity.
Conclusion: Along with PEG5K-CA8, CA-based hybrid nanoplatform is the first of its kind that can stably encapsulate all three FDA-approved taxanes with nearly 100% efficiency up to 20% (w/w) loading.
Keywords: cabazitaxel; cholic acid; docetaxel; drug delivery; micelle; nanoparticle; paclitaxel; taxane; telodendrimer.