Modulating drug release rate from partially silica-coated bicellar nanodisc by incorporating PEGylated phospholipid

This article reports an effective method to regulate hydrophobic drug release rate from partially silica-coated bicellar nanodisc generated from proamphiphilic organoalkoxysilane and dihexanoylphos-phatidylcholine by introducing different molar percentages of 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-PEG2000 (DSPE-PEG2000) into planar bilayers of hybrid bicelles. It was found that the drug release rate increased with increasing the molar percentages of DSPE-PEG2000, and 57.38%, 69.21%, 78.69%, 81.64%, and 82.23% of hydrophobic doxorubicin was released within 120 h from the nanodics incorporating with 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 10%, and 20% DSPE-PEG2000, respectively. Compared with the non-PEGylated nanodisc and free doxorubicin, the PEGylated nanodiscs showed good biocompatibility, high cellular uptake, and adhesion, as well as high local drug accumulation. In addition, both in vitro and in vivo results demonstrated significantly improved antitumor efficacy of the PEGylated nanodisc than its control groups. Thus, the PEGylated nanodisc with partial silica coating offers a facile and efficient strategy of drug delivery for chemotherapy with improved patient acceptance and compliance.