Liposome-based codelivery of celecoxib and doxorubicin hydrochloride as a synergistic dual-drug delivery system for enhancing the anticancer effect

Combination therapy with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs strongly demonstrates a good approach to reduce cytotoxicity, resistance, and the dose of the potent anticancer drugs. The purpose of this research was to design and characterize liposome incorporating celecoxib (CEL) and doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) and investigate the anti-tumor efficacy of this combination on different tumor cells. A simple comparison study had been performed for liposomes formulation using thin-film hydration method and pH-gradient method. HSPC-incorporated liposomes were chosen for encapsulation of both CEL and DOX. The formulations showed small particle size and polydispersity index with high encapsulation efficiency. DOX/CEL liposomes displayed the strongest cytotoxicity against B16 and MGC80-3 cells in comparison to the corresponding drug solutions. By incorporation of both agents, a significant reduction in IC50 from 0.927 to 0.198 mu g/ml and from 0.81 to 0.535 mu g/ml against B16 cells and MGC80-3 cells, respectively, was observed. CEL also significantly improved the intracellular retention and accumulation of DOX in vitro. Our data suggest that the developed liposomal formulation proved to be the most effective formulative strategy as a dual drug delivery system for incorporation of both doxorubicin HCL and CEL and could be considered a useful tool for enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of the anticancer drug.