Encapsulation of tagitinin C in liposomes coated by Tithonia diversifolia pectin

Abstract

Tagitinin C, a sesquiterpene lactone compound from Tithonia diversifolia, is known to have various bioactivities including anticancer effects. The disadvantages of tagitinin C which make its therapeutic application limited are low water solubility and poor stability. In this work, we encapsulated tagitinin C in the form of liposomal nanoparticles to overcome its limitations and evaluated its anticancer activity. Liposomes were prepared using phosphatidylcholine, tween 80 and with/without T. diversifolia pectin. Tagitinin C liposomes exhibited small sizes, a range of 252–311 nm, and negative surface charges. Liposomes coated by T. diversifolia pectin resulted in a slightly slower release rate than pectin-uncoated liposomes. The cytotoxicity of tagitinin C in pectin-coated liposomes was more pronounced than that in liposomes without pectin. Tagitinin C in liposomes showed significantly increased toxicity against human lung cancer cells LU-1 in comparison with DMSO-tagitinin C. Therefore, tagitinin C liposomes demonstrate significant potential as delivery systems for cancer therapy.

Keywords:

• Liposomes
• drug delivery
• biomaterial
• cancer

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded by Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under grant number 106-NN.02–2013.49.