Pharmacokinetic studies of nanoparticles as a delivery system for conventional drugs and herb-derived compounds for cancer therapy: a systematic review

Abstract

The poor pharmacokinetic characteristics of most anticancer drugs have limited their clinical effectiveness. The application of nanoparticles as a novel drug delivery system has provided opportunities to tackle the current challenges facing conventional drug delivery systems such as poor pharmacokinetics, lack of specificity to tumor cells, multidrug resistance, and toxicity. This systematic review aims to examine the application of pharmacokinetic studies of nanoparticles loaded in conventional drugs and herb-derived compounds for cancer therapy. The pharmacokinetic parameters of several herbal medicines and chemotherapeutic drugs loaded into nanoparticles were reported. This included area under the curve (AUC) of plasma concentration–time profile, maximum plasma concentration (C_max), time to maximum plasma concentration (T_max), volume of distribution (V_d or V_ss), elimination half-life (t_½), and clearance (CL). The systematic review was conducted using information available in the PubMed and Science Direct databases up to February 2019. The search terms employed were: pharmacokinetics, pharmacokinetic study, nanoparticles, anticancer, traditional medicine, herbal medicine, herb-derived compounds, natural products, and chemotherapy. Overall, nanoparticle carriers not only significantly improved pharmacokinetics but also further enhanced permeability, solubility, stability, specificity, and selectivity of the carried anticancer drugs/herb-derived compounds to target tumor cells. Additionally, they also limited hepatic first-pass metabolism and P-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux of the carried anticancer drugs/herb-derived compounds. Based on this systematic review, polymeric nanoparticles were the most commonly used nanocarrier to improve the pharmacokinetic parameters. The use of nanoparticles as a novel drug delivery system has the potential to improve both pharmacokinetics and cytotoxicity activity of the loaded drugs/herb-derived compounds for cancer therapy.

Keywords:

• anticancer
• chemotherapy
• herb-derived compounds
• nanoparticles
• pharmacokinetics
• traditional medicines

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Center of Excellence in Pharmacology and Molecular Biology of Malaria and Cholangiocarcinoma, Chulabhorn International College of Medicine, and the Drug Discovery Center of Thammasat University (Rangsit Campus), for providing the necessary support for conducting this systematic review. Omar Abdifetah receives financial support for his M.Sc. degree program in Bioclinical Sciences from Chulabhorn International College of Medicine and Thammasat University. Kesara Na-Bangchang receives financial support for research and management from Thammasat University Center of Excellence in Pharmacology and Molecular Biology of Malaria and Cholangiocarcinoma. 

Abbreviations list

MCF-7/ADR, Michigan Cancer Foundation-7-Adriamycin resistant; MDA-MB-231, M.D. Anderson-Metastasis Breast cancer; Akt/mTOR, protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin; NF-κB, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells; HIF-1α, Hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.