Nanoliposomes as Multidrug Carrier of Gemcitabine/Paclitaxel for the Effective Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer Disease: A Comparison with Gemzar and Taxol

Several liposomal drugs have received clinical approval for the treatment of cancer due to the reduced side effects and/or improved therapeutic efficacy in comparison to their respective free drug counterparts. In this study, nanoliposomes are designed as multidrug carriers for codelivering gemcitabine hydrochloride (Gemzar) and paclitaxel (Taxol) and evaluating their anticancer activity in several triple negative human breast cancer cell lines and in a mouse model of metastatic breast cancer. The results demonstrate that the nanoliposomes significantly decrease the cell viability of breast cancer cells compared to combination treatment with the free drugs. Furthermore, the chemotherapeutics coloaded nanoliposomes dramatically decrease the tumor growth and improve survival times, while combination treatment with Gemzar and Taxol has a modest effect on cancer progression. Moreover, pharmacokinetic analysis demonstrates that nanoliposomes increase the half-life of gemcitabine hydrochloride and paclitaxel 6.3-fold and 1.7-fold, respectively. Taken together, the findings indicate that gemcitabine hydrochloride and paclitaxel-coloaded nanoliposomes can provide an effective treatment strategy for metastatic breast cancer.