Co-encapsulation of thymoquinone with docetaxel enhances the encapsulation efficiency into PEGylated liposomes and the chemosensitivity of MCF7 breast cancer cells to docetaxel

Fadwa Odeh; Randa Naffa; Hanan Azzam; Ismail S Mahmoud; Walhan Alshaer; Abeer Al Bawab; Said Ismail

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02919

Co-encapsulation of thymoquinone with docetaxel enhances the encapsulation efficiency into PEGylated liposomes and the chemosensitivity of MCF7 breast cancer cells to docetaxel

Heliyon. 2019 Nov 27;5(11):e02919. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02919. eCollection 2019 Nov.

Authors

Fadwa Odeh^{1

2}, Randa Naffa³, Hanan Azzam², Ismail S Mahmoud⁴, Walhan Alshaer⁵, Abeer Al Bawab^{1

3}, Said Ismail^{3

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
² Hamdi Mango Center for Scientific Research, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
³ Faculty of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
⁴ Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan.
⁵ Cell Therapy Center, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
⁶ Qatar Genome Project, Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar.

Abstract

Combinatorial therapeutic strategies to eradicate tumors can be superior to a single therapeutic modality. Docetaxel (DT) has been approved for the treatment of local or metastasized breast cancer alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents. Thymoquinone (TQ) originated from the seeds of Nigella Sativa plant has been reported to possess in vitro and in vivo antitumor activity against variety of tumors. In the current study, we have investigated the synergistic anticancer efficacy of a novel combination of DT and TQ on MCF7 breast cancer cell line using MTT cell viability assay. Moreover, this study describes for the first time the co-encapsulation of DT and TQ into PEGylated liposomes. The results showed that the combination of DT and TQ resulted in significant synergistic cytotoxicity compared to DT and TQ alone. Moreover, DT and TQ have been successfully co-encapsulated into PEGylated liposomes with higher encapsulation efficiency compared to DT and TQ alone. In conclusion, DT and TQ combination poses a synergistic effect and may aid in decreasing the required doses of DT. Also, the co-encapsulation of DT and TQ into PEGylated liposomes can provide a promising DT and TQ delivery system into cancer cells.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Cancer research; Combination therapy; Delivery system; Docetaxel; Liposomes; Pharmaceutical science; Thymoquinone.