Formulation, Optimization and In Vitro Studies of Flutamide-loaded Nanostructured Lipid Carrier Based Oral Drug Delivery for Enhanced Anticancer Activity

The purpose of this study was to formulate and evaluate nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) of the poorly water soluble anticancer drug Flutamide.

Flutamide-loaded NLCs were formulated by the melt-emulsification ultrasonication method using solid lipid (Precirol ATO 5), liquid lipid (Linseed oil) and surfactants (Tween 80 and Koliphor RH 40). Box Behnken design using 3 factors and 3 levels were utilized to study key cause impact relationship between independent and dependent variables.

The optimized Flutamide NLCs further evaluated for different parameters. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies showed spherical morphology and smooth texture of Flutamide NLCs. The optimized Flutamide-loaded NLCs showed high encapsulation efficiency of 97.7 ± 4.98%. The in vitro drug release of 88.15 ± 1.16% was shown by optimized Flutamide NLCs and followed Korsemeyer-peppas kinetics with Fickian diffusion as a drug release mechanism. The in vitro cell line studies on PC3 cells showed satisfactory results.

NLCs could have great potential to deliver Flutamide by oral route in the treatment and management of prostate cancer by oral route.