Cancer Oriented Cubosomes – A Review

Author(s)

Tilekar, K. B., Khade, P. H., Shitole, M. H., Jograna, M. B., Patil, R. Y.

Author's Affiliation

Abstract

Conventional chemotherapeutic agents often fail, not due to their inability to kill cancer cells, but because of their inability to distinguish cancer cells from normal cells resulting in suboptimal efficacy combined with severe toxic side effects. Nanoparticles (cubosomes) have the potential to improve the biodistribution of chemotherapy drugs by protecting them from degradation, delivering them directly to the tumour site and/or preventing them from affecting healthy tissues. Recently, few anticancer drugs have been successfully encapsulated in cubosomes and characterized physicochemically. Overall, cubosomes have great potential in drug nano formulations for melanoma therapy owing to their potential advantages, including high drug payloads due to high internal surface area and cubic crystalline structures, relatively simple preparation method, biodegradability of lipids, the ability of encapsulating hydrophobic, hydrophilic and amphiphilic substances, targeting and controlled release of bioactive agents like proteins and drugs. The interstitial pressure tends to increase with increasing tumour volume and remain lower in the outermost areas of the tumour. Finally, malignant cells within solid tumours tend to be tightly packed and are heterogeneous in nature. Thus, while the leaky nature of tumour vessels can promote nanoparticle deposition and accumulation, the microenvironment creates a number of barriers that prevent these delivery systems from effectively accessing tumour cells and thus reaching their full potential as the ‘silver bullets’ of anticancer therapies.

Keywords

Cubosomes, Biodistribution, Tumour, Chemotherapy

Cite This Article

Tilekar, K. B., Khade, P. H., Shitole, M. H., Jograna, M. B., & Patil, R. Y. (2014). Cancer Oriented Cubosomes - A Review. International Journal for Pharmaceutical Research Scholars (IJPRS), 3(4), 198-210.