Objectives: To circumvent cisplatin (CDDP) toxic effects and improve the antitumoural effect, our research group developed long-circulating and pH-sensitive liposomes containing CDDP (SpHL-CDDP). This study aimed to evaluate whether SpHL-CDDP is associated with intestinal protection under in-vitro conditions in the presence of host-microbiota, compared with free CDDP.
Methods: The cytotoxicity of CDDP and SpHL-CDDP were evaluated by colorimetric MTT and sulforhodamine B (SRB) assays. Epithelial proliferation was assessed by using an in-vitro wounding model in the presence of host-microbiota with intestinal epithelial cell line 6 (IEC-6) monolayers. Cytokines were determined by ELISA.
Key findings: Reduced cytotoxicity of SpHL-CDDP in IEC-6 cells (minimum of 1.3-fold according to the IC50 values) was observed when compared with CDDP. The presence of microbiota or CDDP reduced the wound healing. The association of microbiota and SpHL-CDDP improved the wound healing and cell number in IEC-6 cells when compared with control. These beneficial results can be associated with increased IL-6 and IL-10 levels induced by SpHL-CDDP which were affected by the presence of microbiota.
Conclusions: These results indicate that the presence of microbiota associated with SpHL-CDDP provided less intestinal cellular damages compared with CDDP and constitutes a promising candidate for clinical use.
Keywords: cisplatin; cytotoxicity; intestinal toxicity; liposome.
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