Intracellular uptake of EGCG-loaded deformable controlled release liposomes for skin cancer

Abstract

Caucasian population groups have a higher propensity to develop skin cancer, and associated clinical interventions often present substantial financial burden on healthcare services. Conventional treatments are often not suitable for all patient groups as a result of poor efficacy and toxicity profiles. The primary objective of this study was to develop a deformable liposomal formulation, the properties of which being dictated by the surfactant Tween 20, for the dermal cellular delivery of epigallocatechin gallatein (EGCG), a compound possessing antineoplastic properties. The results demonstrated a significant (p ≤ 0.05) decrease in liposome deformability index (74 ± 8 to 37 ± 7) as Tween 20 loading increased from 0 to 10% w/w, indicating an increase in elasticity. EGCG release over 24-h demonstrated Tween 20 incorporation directly increased release from 13.7% ± 1.1% to 94.4% ± 4.9% (for 0 and 10% w/w Tween 20 respectively). Finally, we demonstrated DilC-loaded deformable liposomes were localized intracellularly within human dermal fibroblast and keratinocyte cells within 2 h. Thus, it was evident that deformable liposomes may aid drug penetration into dermal cells and would be useful in developing a controlled-release formulation.

Keywords:

• Skin cancer
• deformable liposomes
• dermal release
• controlled release
• elastic liposomes

Acknowledgements

The authors would also like to acknowledge Aston Research Center for Healthy Ageing and for assisting with the collection of confocal imaging data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank the Medical Research Council for providing funds for this project.