Evaluation of TPGS-modified thermo-sensitive Pluronic PF127 hydrogel as a potential carrier to reverse the resistance of P-gp-overexpressing SMMC-7721 cell lines.

In the present studies locally injectable docetaxel nanocrystals loaded d-alpha tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate-modified Pluronic F127 (DOC-NCs-TPGS-PF127) thermo-sensitive hydrogels were prepared to reverse drug resistance of P-glycoprotein (P-gp)-overexpressing human liver cancer SMMC-7721 tumors. Firstly, DOC nanosuspensions with mean particle size of 196nm were prepared and dispersed into series of mixed solutions containing PF127 and TPGS of different ratios to obtain DOC-NCs-TPGS-PF127 hydrogels. DOC NCs, exhibiting a uniform distribution and very good physical stability during three sol-gel cycles in the hydrogel network, did not influence the gelation temperature. Swelling-dependent release pattern was found for DOC NCs from hydrogels and release profiles could be well fitted by the Peppas equation. MTT test showed that hydrogels containing 0% or 0.1% TPGS had no cytotoxicity against L929 fibroblasts. Both DOC solution and DOC-NCs-TPGS-PF127 hydrogels exhibited obvious cytotoxicity against sensitive SMMC-7721 cells. When resistant SMMC7721 cells were treated, DOC-NCs-TPGS-PF127 hydrogels showed significantly higher cytotoxicity compared with DOC solution and hydrogels containing no TPGS (DOC-NCs-PF127), with markedly lower IC50 and resistant index (RI). After intratumoral injection in SMMC-7721/RT tumor xenograft Balb/c mice model, DOC-NCs-TPGS-PF127 hydrogels exhibited about 5-fold increase and 1.8-fold increase in the inhibition rate of tumor growth compared with intravenous and intratumoral injection of DOC solution, respectively. It could be concluded that TPGS-modified PF127 thermo-sensitive hydrogel was an excellent locally injectable carrier to reverse P-gp overexpression associated multi-drug resistance.