Design and synthesis of a novel albumin-bound PTX liposome system

Paclitaxel (PTX), a definited drug with anti-tumor effect, has been employed in treating various kinds of cancer. However, clinical effects have been hampered by its poor solubility and serious side effects. In this work, we developed an albumin-polymer liposome system for delivering PTX. Maleimide (MI) was employed to facilitate PTX binding with albumin, and liposome was comprised with lecithin and cholesterol. The albumin-bound PTX liposome system exhibited a high encapsulation efficiency, excellent drug load and good particle size. Combination of albumin and liposome, this system has the property to target in tumor issues and PTX could be released in tumor microenvironment by breaking the hydrazone bond to exhibit antitumor activity.