Evaluation of the anti-tumor effects of paclitaxel-encapsulated pH-sensitive micelles

We evaluated the efficacy of pH-sensitive micelles, formed by methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(β-amino ester) (PEG-PAE), as carriers for paclitaxel (PTX), a drug currently used to treat various cancers. PTX was successful encapsulated by a film hydration method. Micelles encapsulated more than 70% of the PTX and the size of the PTX-encapsulated micelles (PTX-PM) was less than 150 nm. In vitro experiments indicated that the micelles were unstable below pH 6.5. After encapsulation of PTX within the micelles, dynamic light scattering (DLS) studies indicated that low pH had a similar demicellization effect. An in vitro release study indicated that PTX was slowly released at pH 7.4 (normal body conditions) but rapidly released under weakly acidic conditions (pH 6.0). We demonstrated the safety of micelles from in vitro cytotoxicity tests on HeLa cells and the in vivo anti-tumor activity of PTX-PM in B16F10 tumor-bearing mice. We concluded that these pH-sensitive micelles have potential as carriers for anti-cancer drugs.