Publication:

Targeted nano-sized drug design in cancer treatments: development of new nano-sized formulations for the use of anti-cancerogenic lisinopril in the treatment of colorectal cancer

Background Colorectal cancer emerges as a serious health problem all over the world and results in approximately 700,000 deaths every year. Therefore, studies are carried out to develop alternative treatment methods to reduce the side effects of anticancer drugs in cancer treatment. Targeted nanoparticle therapies are tried to be developed especially with controlled drug release. Lisinopril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, is a widely used drug in the treatment of hypertension and has been shown to have anticancer activity on various types of cancer.

Methods This study, blank and 3 different amounts of lisinopril loaded nanoparticles were prepared by triblock poly (lactic acid)–poly (ethylene glycol)–poly (lactic acid) (PLA-PEG-PLA) block copolymer which is a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer by using water/oil/water emulsion method and then characterized. The viability of the blank formulations in murine fibroblast (L929) cells, which is the healthy cell line, was determined within the scope of biocompatibility studies.

Results The anticarcinogenic activity of lisinopril drug, blank and lisinopril loaded nanoparticles was determined in caco-2 cells which are human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line.

Conclusions Lisinopril loaded nanoparticles were successfully prepared in this study. It is thought that increasing the amount of drug-loaded can be a promising approach to an alternative treatment method for the use of antihypertensive drugs in the treatment of colorectal cancer.