Preparation and characterization of beta sitosterol encapsulated nanoliposomal formulation for improved delivery to cancer cells and evaluation of its anti-tumor activities against Daltons Lymphoma Ascites tumor models

Beta sitosterol (BS) is a dietary phytosterol with promising therapeutic applications. The low bioavailability and rapid degradation of BS is the main challenges for their use in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Liposome mediated drug delivery systems are the useful approaches to improve the biopharmaceutical properties of BS. In this study, we had prepared nanoliposome encapsulated beta sitosterol (LBS) with improved bioavailability and stability. The prepared nanoliposomes had spherical vesicles, with mean particle size of 114.5 nm and had an encapsulation efficiency of 86%. Our in vitro study results showed that LBS treatment could induce apoptosis in lymphoma cell lines as evidenced by acridine orange/ethidium bromide and nuclear staining. Our in vivo studies involving experimental tumor models revealed that LBS treatment could significantly (p < 0.01) reduce the tumor loads, improve the survival rate, and stabilize the body weights in Dalton's Lymphoma Ascites (DLA) tumor bearing mice when compared to BS. Hematological and serum biochemical parameters also improved significantly (p < 0.01) after LBS administration than free drug. The overall study results revealed that LBS exhibits promising therapeutic efficacy in comparison with non-encapsulated BS in regulating experimental tumor development as well as induction of lymphoma cell apoptosis.