Cannabidiol-loaded-microparticles | Ana Isabel
Summary :
Cannabinoids have emerged as potential agents for cancer management administered either as monotherapy or in combination with conventional antineoplastics. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the most promising cannabinoids due to its lack of psychoactive effects. However, its low aqueous solubility and stability problems hinder its parenteral administration. The use of polymeric microparticles could resolve these challenges and allows an extended CBD release after a single administration, which is useful in long term treatments as required in cancer. This work aimed the potential use of cannabidiol in solution (CBDsol) and encapsulated in polymeric microparticles when combined with paclitaxel and doxorubicin in the treatment of breast and ovarian cancer. PLGA-502 was selected as the most suitable polymer to develop CBD-loaded microparticles. The developed formulations showed a spherical shape, a particle size around 25 μm, which is suitable for parenteral administration, a high CBD content and a controlled CBD release over 40 days. CBDsol potentiated the antitumor effect of paclitaxel in highly invasive breast and ovarian cancer cells. However, the combination of CBD and DOX was only effective in breast cancer. The best treatment schedule was the pre-administration of CBD followed by its co-administration with paclitaxel or doxorubicin. Using this protocol, the single administration of CBD-loaded- microparticles was even more effective than the daily administration of CBDsol. The combination of CBDsol or CBD-loaded-microparticles and paclitaxel was also evaluated in vivo in the chick chorioallantoic membrane model, confirming the results obtained in vitro. These results demonstrated the potential use of CBD-loaded-microparticles in combination with paclitaxel for breast and ovarian cancer management.
About Author :
Dr. Ana Isabel Fraguas Sánchez received her PhD in Pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid, receiving the Doctorate Extraordinary Award from the Faculty of Pharmacy and the “Juan Abello I” thesis prize from the Doctor Academy of Spain. Nowadays, Dr. Fraguas-Sánchez is assistant professor of Pharmaceutics, Biopharmacy and Pharmacokinetics at Complutense University of Madrid. She is author of 17 peer review articles, most of them of the highest quality and have participated in more than 20 scientific conferences. She serves as reviewer of many peer reviewed journals including Molecules, Cancers, Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceuticals, Toxins and International Journal of Pharmaceutics and as co-editor of several specials’ issues in Cancers and Pharmaceutics. She has done several predoctoral and postdoctoral research stages (Italy, Switzerland, and Finland).
