Development and Characterization of PEGDA Microneedles for Localized Drug Delivery of Gemcitabine to Treat Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Abstract

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is one of the most belligerent types of breast cancer. While various modalities exist in managing/treating IBC, drug delivery using microneedles (MNs) is considered to be the most innovative method of localized delivery of anti-cancer agents. Localized drug delivery helps to treat IBC could limit their adverse reactions. MNs are nothing but small needle like structures that cause little or no pain at the site of administration for drug delivery via layers of the skin. The polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) based MNs were fabricated by using three dimensional (3D) technology called Projection Micro-Stereo Lithography (PµSL). The fabricated microneedle patches (MNPs) were characterized and coated with a coating formulation comprising of gemcitabine and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose by a novel and inventive screen plate method. The drug coated MNPs were characterized by various instrumental methods of analysis and release profile studies were carried out using Franz diffusion cell. Coat-and-poke strategy was employed in administering the drug coated MNPs. Overall, the methods employed in the present study not only help in obtaining MNPs with accurate dimensions but also help in obtaining uniformly drug coated MNPs of gemcitabine for treatment of IBC. Most importantly, 100% drug release was achieved within the first one hour only.

Applications and prospects of microneedles in tumor drug delivery

“…At present, drug-loaded microneedles are mostly used in the treatment of body surface tumors such as oral squamous cell carcinoma, 128 skin cancer, 129 and breast cancer. 185 Applications in the treatment of organ tumors or hematological malignancies are relatively limited. However, microneedles applied to different organs will still inspire the future use of microneedles in the treatment of organ tumors.…”

Hydrogel-Forming Microneedles with Applications in Oral Diseases Management

“…Oral and parental routes of anticancer drug administration are always associated with systemic adverse effects and, nevertheless, remain at risk of eventual low anticancer drug bioavailability at the site of action because of pharmaceutical limitations and physiological barriers. As a new generation of trans-tissue local drug delivery [ 108 ], hydrogel MNs loaded with anticancer drug(s), if appliable in the vicinity of the primary tumor resection site, with or without the aid of endoscopy, can secure effective drug delivery to ensure tumor elimination and/or minimize tumor recurrence [ 109 ] as well as reduced systemic adverse effects [ 110 ].…”

Enhanced Skin Permeation and Controlled Release of β-Sitosterol Using Cubosomes Encrusted with Dissolving Microneedles for the Management of Alopecia

“…Each sample (β-ST, GMO, HA, CUBs, and CUBs-MN D ) was compressed into a disc in presence of potassium bromide. The compressed discs were scanned from 4000 to 400 cm −1 using a Shimadzu 435 U-O4 IR spectrometer (Tokyo, Japan) [59].…”