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Advances in Brief |
Inex Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5J 5J8 Canada [T. D. M.]; Department of Advanced Therapeutics, British Columbia Cancer Agency [P. T., E. C., D. M., M. B.], Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Z 4E3 Canada; and Northern Lipids Inc., Jack Bell Research Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6H 3Z6 Canada [T. R.]
| ABSTRACT |
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| Introduction |
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| Materials and Methods |
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Preparation of Liposomes.
Large unilamellar vesicles consisting of egg sphingomyelin and
cholesterol (55:45 mole percent) were prepared as previously described
by Hope et al. (11)
. Briefly, lipids were
dissolved in benzene/methanol (95:5 v/v) in the presence of
[3H]cholesteryl hexadecyl ether (98,000
dpm/µmol), frozen in liquid nitrogen, and lyophilized under
vacuum for 5 h. The dried lipid films were hydrated in 300
mM manganese sulfate, freeze-thawed five times
(12)
, and size-reduced using high pressure extrusion
through two-stacked polycarbonate filters of 80 nm in pore size
(Poretics, AMD Manufacturing Inc., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada). The
vesicle diameter was typically in the range of 130 ± 20
nm based on quasi-elastic light scattering (Nicomp Particle Sizer Model
270, Santa Barbara, CA). The external buffer of the carrier system was
exchanged by dialyzing at 4°C for 48 h against 100 volumes of
300 mM sucrose with buffer changes at 18 and
36 h.
Topotecan Encapsulation.
Topotecan was encapsulated into the liposomes using an
ionophore-mediated proton gradient (13)
. Drug uptake was
performed at 5 mM topotecan and 40 mM lipid in
a solution containing 300 mM sucrose, 30 mM
EDTA, and 20 mM 2-morpholineethanesulfonic acid (pH
6.0). The divalent cation ionophore A23187 (7 µM final
concentration) was first added to the liposomes, and the mixture was
incubated at 65°C for 15 min to facilitate A23187 incorporation into
the bilayer. Subsequently, topotecan and EDTA were added, and the
mixture was incubated at 65°C for 1 h. The extent of
encapsulation was determined by passing an aliquot of the sample down a
Sephadex G-50 spin column (14)
and measuring lipid and
topotecan concentration in the eluent. Unencapsulated topotecan and
A23187 were removed from the preparation by dialyzing the sample at
4°C for 48 h against 100 volumes of 300 mM sucrose.
The efficiency of topotecan loading typically ranged between 90 and
100%.
Pharmacokinetic Studies in BALB/c Mice.
Free topotecan (10 mg/kg) and liposomal topotecan (125 mg/kg lipid, 10
mg/kg topotecan) were injected i.v. into female BALB/c mice, and the
plasma elimination of both the lipid carrier and the drug were
determined over a 24-h time course. Quantitation of the liposomal
carrier in plasma was based on liquid scintillation counting of the
nonexchangeable, nonmetabolizable marker
[3H]cholesteryl hexadecyl ether
(15)
. Total topotecan was determined using fluorescence
spectroscopy as described in analytical methods.
Tumor Models.
In the L1210 tumor model, female BDF-1 mice weighing 1820 g were
obtained from Charles River Breeding Laboratories. The L1210 cell line
was obtained from the National Cancer Institute tumor cell repository
and was maintained by serial passage of ascites fluid. Mice in groups
of four or five were inoculated on day 0 with 1 x 104 cells i.v. or 1 x 105 cells i.p. In the MDA435/LCC6 tumor model,
female SCID/RAG-2 mice weighing 1820 g were bred by the British
Columbia Cancer Agency Joint Animal Facility through a licensing
agreement with Taconic (Germantown, NY). The MDA435/LCC6 cell line was
kindly provided by Dr. Robert Clarke of the Vincent Lombardi Cancer
Center. The cell line has been previously characterized
(16)
and was maintained by serial passage of ascites
fluid. Groups of four mice were inoculated i.p. with 1 x 106 cells on day 0. Treatments in all
tumor models were initiated as a single i.v. dose on day 1 or multiple
dosing on days 1, 5, and 9. For the treatment groups, drug dosage was
adjusted for average body weight for each group. Control animals
received injections of sterile saline. Mice were weighed on the day of
tumor injection, and weights were recorded daily until the first death
within each group. Survival times were recorded as days after tumor
cell injection. Because death cannot be used as an end point, mice were
evaluated twice daily by trained animal health technicians and
sacrificed at the first sign of distress.
Analytical Methods.
Topotecan was quantified using two different methods. In the blood
clearance studies, total topotecan was quantified using fluorescence
spectroscopy. Briefly, plasma proteins were precipitated by the
addition of 200 µl of methanol to 50 µl of plasma, and the sample
was centrifuged in an Eppendorf microcentrifuge for 10 min at 3500 rpm.
Topotecan was quantified using a Perkin-Elmer LS50 fluorescence
spectrometer (Norfolk, CT) set at an excitation wavelength of 380 nm
(2.5-nm slit width) and emission wavelength of 518 nm (2.5-nm slit
width).
Quantitation of the lactone and carboxylate forms of topotecan was performed by HPLC analysis (17) . Briefly, topotecan was extracted from 50 µl of plasma by diluting the sample in ice-cold methanol (final concentration 80% methanol) to precipitate plasma proteins and solubilize the liposomes. The methanolic solution was stored at -30°C until analysis. These conditions were found to stabilize the lactone species of the drug for several days. Just before HPLC analysis, the samples were diluted with an equal volume of refrigerated water. Standard curves for the two species of the drug were generated by dissolving the drug in either 40% methanol:60% 10 mM citrate buffer (pH 3) for the lactone species or 40% methanol:60% 10 mM borate buffer (pH 9) for the carboxylate species. HPLC analysis used a Waters Novo-pak column (150 x 3.9 mm) with a run time of 15 min at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. A two solvent mobile phase system consisted of mobile phase A (0.6% acetic acid, 1.5% triethylamine in HPLC grade water) and mobile phase B (0.6% acetic acid, 1.5% triethylamine in 47.9% HPLC grade water and 50% acetonitrile). The elution gradient consisted of a mixture of A:B in the following ratios: 78%:22% for minutes 04, 50%:50% for minutes 48, followed by 78%:22% for minutes 815. Under the HPLC conditions outlined above, the carboxylate species of topotecan elutes at 3 min and the lactone species elutes at 7 min.
| Results |
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Pharmacokinetics of Liposomal Topotecan.
Pharmacokinetic studies examined plasma elimination rates for both
topotecan and the liposomal carrier. After i.v. injection in BALB/c
mice, sphingomyelin/cholesterol liposomes show extended blood
circulation times (Fig. 1A)
. Carrier elimination rates are similar for
topotecan-loaded liposomes, mock-loaded liposomes, and empty liposomes,
with 1520% of the injected doses remaining in the circulation at
24 h. This is comparable to circulation lifetimes reported for
liposomal systems that contain polyethylene glycol-conjugated lipids
(18)
. In contrast to free topotecan, which is rapidly
eliminated from the plasma, liposomal topotecan shows an extended
circulation lifetime, with 23% of the injected dose remaining in the
circulation at 4 h (Fig. 1B)
. Over 24 h, a
400-fold increase in plasma area under the curve is observed for
liposomal topotecan compared to the free drug. From the carrier and
drug pharmacokinetic data, it is also possible to calculate the rate of
topotecan release from circulating liposomes. As shown in Fig. 1C
, sphingomyelin/cholesterol carriers provide sustained
drug release over about 24 h.
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50% of the drug recovered from the plasma is the
active lactone form after 5 min (Table 1)
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In the second L1210 model, cells were injected i.v., resulting in tumor
seeding primarily to the liver. Again, both single and multidose
schedules were examined. As observed in the ascites model, liposomal
topotecan showed superior activity to the free drug, even at half the
free drug dosage (Fig. 2B
; Table 2
). In the groups treated with free drug, no long-term survivors (>60
days) were observed, whereas all mice receiving liposomal topotecan
survived beyond 60 days regardless of treatment protocol. At autopsy on
day 61, no tumors were found in any of the liposomal topotecan-treated
animals.
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| Discussion |
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100 nm in diameter. Defects in the capillary endothelium of tumor
vasculature are typically in the size range of 200600 nm
(3)
, and therefore, liposomes of 100 nm in diameter can
efficiently extravasate and accumulate within the tumor interstitial
space (23)
. This tumor accumulation is enhanced for
systems that display a long circulation lifetime and, as we show here,
sphingomyelin/cholesterol liposomes exhibit this property. The blood
residency lifetimes we observe are comparable to those of liposomes
possessing polyethylene glycol-conjugated lipids (termed Stealth
liposomes). This is the result of two main factors. First, the
sphingomyelin/cholesterol bilayer is highly rigid and therefore protein
binding to the surface is minimized. This reduces the rate of
opsonin-induced carrier clearance (24)
. Second, liposome
clearance rates are influenced by lipid dose because RES clearance
mechanisms are partly saturable (18)
. The drug:lipid ratio
selected for liposomal topotecan provides a lipid dose that avoids
rapid carrier clearance by the RES. An interesting aspect of the present work is that we observe similar plasma elimination rates for topotecan-loaded liposomes and mock-loaded or empty carriers. This result is in contrast to the decreased elimination rates seen for liposomal doxorubicin compared to empty carriers (25) . In the case of liposomal doxorubicin, drug-induced inhibition of RES activity is believed to account for the slower clearance of drug-loaded carriers. This inhibition, or "RES blockade," is believed to reflect cytotoxicity against phagocytic cells responsible for clearance. Because this phenomenon is not observed for liposomal topotecan, it may suggest that topotecan is not inhibiting the nondividing RES cell population. This result supports previously published in vitro studies showing that in the absence of DNA replication, the reversibly stabilized topoisomerase I-DNA complex has minimal effect on cell survival (26) . The absence of nonspecific cell toxicities could prove to be an advantage associated with the use of liposomal topotecan over other liposomal drugs, such as doxorubicin and vincristine.
In addition to increasing topotecan delivery to tumor sites, sphingomyelin/cholesterol liposomes provide sustained drug release over about 24 h. In view of the fact that topotecan activity is cell-cycle-dependent, increasing tumor cell exposure time should increase tumor cell killing dramatically. Previous studies attempting to increase the therapeutic activity of the free drug have met limited success. In a Phase I clinical trial, continuous infusion of free topotecan increased tumor exposure time, but the conversion to the inactive carboxylate form was so rapid that tolerable doses were often too low to provide any antineoplastic effect (27) . This problem is overcome in the present work by using an ionophore-generated ion gradient to create an acidic carrier interior. This protected topotecan as the lactone species for an extended period ensuring that drug released at the tumor site is in the active form.
Initial animal studies evaluated the toxicity and efficacy of liposomal topotecan in the murine L1210 leukemia model. This model has previously been used in several studies that characterized topotecan activity in vivo (2 , 28 , 29) . Higher drug toxicity, evidenced by weight loss, was seen for liposomal topotecan relative to free drug. This result is not surprising in view of the considerable increase in plasma area under the curve (400-fold) observed for the liposomal formulation and the previously reported correlation of plasma topotecan levels with toxicity (2) . Further, a much greater proportion of the drug is preserved as the lactone species when administered in the liposomal carrier. It should be noted that no toxicity (weight loss) was observed in mice administered empty (mock loaded) liposomes at an equivalent lipid dose to that of the highest liposomal topotecan dose. In the L1210 ascites model, liposomal topotecan was much more efficacious than free drug using either a single dose or multidose schedule. Long-term survivors were seen in all liposomal topotecan-treated groups, whereas only one 60-day survivor was achieved in any of the free drug groups. The comparative activities of free and liposomal topotecan were even more pronounced in the L1210 liver metastasis model. All groups treated with liposomal topotecan showed 100% long-term survival with no evidence of tumor at autopsy, even at half the dose of free drug. No long-term survivors were seen in groups treated with free drug. This remarkable improvement in efficacy may be partially related to the fact that liposomes accumulate in the organs of the RES. Because these organs include the liver, the primary site of tumor seeding after i.v. inoculation of L1210 cells, topotecan delivery to the site may be further enhanced over that achieved with the ascitic tumor model. Finally, in a human breast tumor model MDA435/LCC6, improvements in the therapeutic activity of topotecan were also observed for the liposomal formulation. In this model, free drug showed no significant ILS, whereas liposomal topotecan showed significant activity. The combined results from these tumor models indicate that the therapeutic activity of topotecan can be significantly improved by encapsulating the drug within an appropriate liposomal carrier.
Topotecan is a very promising anticancer drug that has shown clinical activity against small cell and non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, refractory leukemias/myelodysplastic syndromes, and in childhood sarcomas (30) . As for camptothecins in general, conversion of the drug from the active lactone to an inactive carboxylate occurs rapidly in vivo. By encapsulating topotecan within a liposome, we selectively retained the drug in the active lactone form, increased delivery to tumor sites, and provided sustained drug release and hence tumor exposure. These pharmacokinetic changes significantly enhanced the activity of topotecan against both murine and human tumor models. These findings warrant the further development of liposomal topotecan for potential clinical investigation.
| FOOTNOTES |
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1 Supported by Inex Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
Additional funding was by the Medical Research Council of Canada (to
M. B.) and the National Cancer Institute of Canada (to T. D. M.). ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be
addressed, at Inex Pharmaceuticals Corporation, 100-8900 Glenlyon
Parkway, Glenlyon Business Park, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5J
5J8. ![]()
3 The abbreviations used are: HPLC,
high-performance liquid chromatography; ILS, increase in life
span; RES, reticuloendothelial system. ![]()
Received 2/25/00. Accepted 5/ 8/00.
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