Lipiodol is a frequently used liquid embolic agent for treating TAE among these clinically used embolic agents; it has also been used in combination with chemotherapy medicines to treat TACE. However, the quick drug diffusion from the embolization site caused by the low stability of this Lipiodol-drug emulsion significantly reduces the therapeutic efficacy of these chemotherapeutic medicines and imposes systemic toxicity.
Thus, the creation of a stable Lipiodol-drug emulsion with long-term drug release characteristics has enormous potential for better HCC treatment.
A collaborative research team led by Professor Zhuang Liu from Soochow University (Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials, FUNSOM) suggested a water-in-oil Lipiodol Pickering emulsion stabilized by calcium carbonate nanoparticles and hemin in a recent study published in National Science Review to address this difficult problem.
Due to the inclusion of CaCO3 nanoparticles, the resulting Lipiodol Pickering emulsion allowed for pH-responsive release of the encapsulated molecules and stable encapsulation of a variety of hydrophilic molecules in aqueous droplets compared to traditional Lipiodol emulsion.
The ability of lipoxygenase (LOX) to stimulate the production of cytotoxic lipid radicals from polyunsaturated fatty acids, a primary constituent of lipiodol, served as inspiration for the concise construction of a pH-responsive, self-fueling ferroptosis-inducing microreactor (known as LHCa-LPE) in which LOX was encapsulated in a lipiodol-based Pickering emulsion.
With lipiodol serving as the source of PUFAs, it was demonstrated that such LHCa-LPE could efficiently induce ferroptosis in cancer cells by the cascade lipid peroxidation chain reaction. Such LHCa-LPE, acting as dual-purpose embolic and ferroptosis-inducing agents, could successfully limit the growth of orthotopic N1S1 HCC in rats during transarterial embolization.
This study presents a simple method for creating a stable lipiodol-based embolic agent, which is also encouraging for possible clinical translation because all of the constituents of these emulsions have outstanding biocompatibility.
Journal Reference:
Wang, C., et al. (2023) Self-fueling ferroptosis-inducing microreactors based on pH-responsive Lipiodol Pickering emulsions enable transarterial ferro-embolization therapy. National Science Review. doi:10.1093/nsr/nwad257