Gemcitabine loaded biodegradable PLGA nanospheres for in vitro pancreatic cancer therapy

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cancer with 85% mortality rate in USA alone and it is prevalent in many other developed and developing countries. Clinically, gemcitabine is prescribed as the first line chemotherapeutic drug for pancreatic cancer treatment. Gemcitabine-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanospheres were synthesized and their physico-chemical properties were evaluated. The FESEM images showed that the gemcitabine loaded and blank nanospheres were 180 nm and 200 nm, respectively. The optimized encapsulation efficiency of gemcitabine was 15%. It was observed that 100% of gemcitabine was released from the PLGA nanospheres for 41 days in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at pH 7.4. The uptake of nanospheres in MiaPaCa-2 cells was studied using sulforhodamine B loaded PLGA nanospheres and our results showed that the nanospheres were taken up within 3 h. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity of PLGA nanospheres loaded with gemcitabine showed a relative decrease in IC50 in MiaPaCa-2 and ASPC-1 pancreatic cancer cells in comparison to free gemcitabine. The study demonstrates that this system hold promise to improve the therapeutic efficacy of gemcitabine in vitro.