Combined nanosuspensions from two natural active ingredients for cancer therapy with reduced side effects

In this paper, a new nanosuspensions, hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) and quercetin (QUR) hybrid nanosuspensions (HQ-NPs), was constructed by intermolecular force in the process of microprecipitation. HQ-NPs showed a unique shape, changed crystalline and different dissolution rates compared with HCPT-NPs and QUR-NPs in vitro. We found that HQ-NPs can significantly enhance the accumulation of HCPT in tumor sites (reversing tumor drug resistance), improve the antitumor activity of HCPT, and protect the immune organs and other normal tissues (reducing toxicity), compared with HCPT-NPs. Therefore, hybrid nanosuspensions offer promising potential as the drug delivery system for HCPT and QUR to increase the therapeutic efficacy and reduce the toxicity of HCPT.