Sustained release of Ganoderma lucidum antitumor drugs using a sandwich structured material prepared by electrospinning

In cancer therapy, there still remains great challenges such as controlling cancer metastasis and the side effects from chemotherapy. Many anti-cancer drugs have cytotoxicity to normal cell with a high concentration, on the other hand, the anti-cancer effect will not be ideal if it didn’t reach the effective concentrations. So there is a way to make balance between the cytotoxicity and effective concentrations, sustained release can not only prolong the duration of the effective concentration but also reduce the time of peak concentration. Herein, we designed a sandwich structured antitumor composite with a three-layer film including: i) the top and bottom layers of ethyl cellulose (EC) containing Ganoderma lucidum triterpenes (GLT); ii) the middle layer of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) containing G. lucidum polysaccharides (GLP). The films were fabricated layer-by-layer using electrospinning with the aim of providing the sustained release of the antitumor activity of GLT and GLP for use in cancer therapy. This sandwich structured material has potential for sustained antitumor release, high loading capacity (1.6% for GLT and 7.9% for GLP) and large surface area. The morphology, structure, biocompatibility, and the release profile of the encapsulated GLP and GLT in this fabricated composite were characterized. The in vitro antitumor effects of this drug film were studied using carcinoma cells, as SGC-7901, A549, Hela and Caco-2, with the IC50 of 51.2, 90.7, 93.0 and 21.7 μg/mL, respectively. In brief, this medical film achieved a good antitumor effect at the cellular level.