Abstract
Cisplatin (CDDP) and paclitaxel (PTX) are two established chemotherapeutic drugs used in combination for the treatment of many cancers, including ovarian cancer. We have recently developed a three-layered linear-dendritic telodendrimer micelles (TM) by introducing carboxylic acid groups in the adjacent layer via "thio-ene" click chemistry for CDDP complexation and conjugating cholic acids via peptide chemistry in the interior layer of telodendrimer for PTX encapsulation. We hypothesize that the co-delivery of low dosage PTX with CDDP could act synergistically to increase the treatment efficacy and reduce their toxic side effects. This design allowed us to co-deliver PTX and CDDP at various drug ratios to ovarian cancer cells. The in vitro cellular assays revealed strongest synergism in anti-tumor effects when delivered at a 1:2 PTX/CDDP loading ratio. Using the SKOV-3 ovarian cancer xenograft mouse model, we demonstrate that our co-encapsulation approach resulted in an efficient tumor-targeted drug delivery, decreased cytotoxic effects and stronger anti-tumor effect, when compared with free drug combination or the single loading TM formulations.