In vivostudy of effects of artesunate nanoliposomes on human hepatocellular carcinoma xenografts in nude mice

Abstract

To investigate the effect of artesunate nanoliposomes on cultured cells in vitro and hepatocellular carcinoma xenografts in BALB/c-nu mice. Fluorescence polarization was applied for measurement of mitochondrial membrane fluidities; inhibition test of tumor cell proliferation in vitro was performed and nude mice xenograft model from human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was established. Cytotoxicity of these compounds was evaluated by MTT assay on hepatocellular carcinoma xenografts in nude mice. Anisotropy (r-value) of blank nanoliposomes didn't change, it had no statistically significance between the blank nanoliposomes group and the control group, it indicated that artesunate had no obvious effect on L-O2 human normal liver cells. IC 50 values of artesunate nanoliposomes and artesunate API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) against HepG-2 cells were 15.997 and 19.706 mg/ml; IC 50 values of the same drugs against L-O2 normal human liver cells were 100.23 and 105.54 mg/ml, respectively. Tumor growth inhibitory effect of artesunate nanoliposomes was 32.7%, and artesunate API was 20.5%, respectively. HepG-2 cells treated with artesunate nanoliposomes showed dose-dependent apoptosis. The antitumor effect of artesunate nanoliposomes on human hepatoma HepG2 cells were stronger than that of artesunate API at the same concentration.

Etoposide-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers for gastric cancer therapy

“…The antitumor effects of NLCs were investigated in gastric tumor-bearing BALB/c nude mice models (Jin et al, 2013). BALB/c mice were inoculating (s.c.) subcutaneously in the left armpit with SGC7901 cells suspended in PBS.…”

Artesunate Induces Apoptosis of Bladder Cancer Cells by miR-16 Regulation of COX-2 Expression

“…ART, as a potential cancer chemoprevention agent, has a potential anti-cancer effect on several kinds of tumors such as Kaposi’s sarcoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and non-small cell lung cancer [17,18,19,20] and ART is recognized as a safe compound to treat malaria [24] Our experimental design provides a useful model for studying the effect and molecular mechanism of ART on bladder cancer and to our knowledge, this is the first time the therapeutic effect of ART on bladder cancer has been reported. There was no difference in weight among rats in each group (data not shown), which indicated that ART could inhibit tumor growth in the bladder cancer rat without any side effects on weight maintenance.…”

“…In recent years, there is increasing evidence that ART has anti-cancer capability [16]; ART has been shown to have a profound cytotoxic action against several tumors, such as Kaposi’s sarcoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer and cervical cancer [17,18,19,20]. However, whether ART can inhibit the growth of bladder cancer has not yet been reported.…”

CUSP9* treatment protocol for recurrent glioblastoma: aprepitant, artesunate, auranofin, captopril, celecoxib, disulfiram, itraconazole, ritonavir, sertraline augmenting continuous low dose temozolomide

“…Artesunate is particularly active against cytomegalovirus that are resistant to DNA polymerase inhibitors like valganciclovir [23, 24]. Artesunate has demonstrated empirical cytotoxicity against a variety of cancer cells [general review- 22, specific examples: lymphoma and myeloma, 25; pancreatic, 26; hepatocellular, 27; osteosarcoma, 28; gastric, 29; leukemia, 30, 31; glioma, 32]. …”