Polymeric micelles incorporating (1,2-diaminocyclohexane)platinum (II) suppress the growth of orthotopic scirrhous gastric tumors and their lymph node metastasis.

Nano-scaled drug carriers have great potential for the treatment of solid tumors. Nevertheless, hypovascularity and fibrosis in some types of solid tumors have been demonstrated to reduce the penetration and accumulation of nano-scaled drug carriers. Diffuse-type scirrhous gastric cancers present such characteristics as well as frequent metastasis to the lymph nodes; therefore, it remains a great challenge to eradicate scirrhous gastric cancers based on the drug targeting using nanocarriers. Herein, we demonstrated that polymeric micelles with 30-nm diameter incorporating (1,2-diaminocyclohexane)platinum(II) (DACHPt), the parent complex of the anticancer drug oxaliplatin, efficiently penetrated and accumulated in an orthotopic scirrhous gastric cancer model, leading to the inhibition of the tumor growth. Moreover, the elevated localization of systemically injected DACHPt-loaded micelles in metastastic lymph nodes reduced the metastatic tumor growth. These results suggest DACHPt-loaded micelles as a promising nanocarrier for the treatment of scirrhous gastric cancers and their lymphatic metastases.