Polyethylene glycol-phosphatidylethanolamine (PEG-PE)/vitamin E micelles for co-delivery of paclitaxel and curcumin to overcome multi-drug resistance in ovarian cancer.

The therapeutic potential of mixed micelles, made of PEG-PE and vitamin E co-loaded with curcumin and paclitaxel, was investigated against SK-OV-3 human ovarian adenocarcinoma along with its multi-drug resistant version SK-OV-3-paclitaxel-resistant (TR) cells in vitro and in vivo. The addition of curcumin at various concentrations did not significantly enhance the cytotoxicity of paclitaxel against SK-OV-3 in vitro. However, a clear synergistic effect was observed with the combination treatment against SK-OV-3TR in vitro. In vivo, this combination treatment produced a three-fold tumor inhibition with each of these cell lines. Our results indicate that such co-loaded mixed micelles could have significant clinical advantages for the treatment of resistant ovarian cancer.