A novel honokiol liposome: formulation, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor studies

Abstract

It is necessary to discover a novel antitumor liposome with prolonged circulation time, high efficacy, and low cost. Here, we reported a liposomal honokiol (HNK) prepared with a new type of excipient, Kolliphor HS15, which was termed as HS15-LP-HNK. In addition, we employed PEGylated liposomal honokiol (PEG-LP-HNK) as positive control. The HS15-LP-HNK was prepared by thin-film hydration method. It was near-spherical morphology with an average size of 80.62 ± 0.72 nm (PDI = 0.234 ± 0.007) and a mean zeta potential of −3.91 ± 0.06 mv. In vivo studies exhibited no significant difference between HS15-LP-HNK and PEG-LP-HNK. The pharmacokinetic and biodistribution results showed that HS15-LP-HNK could improve the bioavailability and increase tumor accumulation of honokiol. Furthermore, HS15-LP-HNK could enhance antitumor efficacy of honokiol with low toxicity. In summary, HS15-LP-HNK is promising in tumor targeted drug delivery system.

Keywords:

• Kolliphor HS15
• PEGylated liposome
• HS15-LP-HNK
• in vivo studies
• tumor-targeted drug delivery system

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81673359), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (20826041A4343) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M623051).