In Vivo Evaluation of Curcumin-loaded Nanoparticles in a A549 Xenograft Mice Model

Curcumin (Cum) has been reported to have potential chemo-preventive and chemotherapeutic activitythrough influencing various processes, inducing cell cycle arrest, differentiation and apoptosis in a series ofcancers. However, the poor solubility of Cum limits its further applications in the treatment of cancer. We havepreviously reported Cum-loaded nanoparticles (Cum-NPs) prepared with amphilic methoxy poly(ethyleneglycol)-polycaprolactone (mPEG–PCL) block copolymers. The current study demonstrated superior antitumorefficacy of Cum-NPs over free Cum in the treatment of lung cancer. In vivo evaluation further demonstratedsuperior anticancer effects of Cum-NPs by delaying tumor growth compared to free Cum in an established A549transplanted mice model. Moreover, Cum-NPs showed little toxicity to normal tissues including bone marrow,liver and kidney at a therapeutic dose. These results suggest that Cum-NPs are effective to inhibit the growthof human lung cancer with little toxicity to normal tissues, and could provide a clinically useful therapeuticregimen. They thus merit more research to evaluate the feasibility of clinical application.