Preparation and Characterization of Irinotecan Loaded Cross-Linked Bovine Serum Albumin Beads for Liver Cancer Chemoembolization Therapy

In this paper, a novel temporary embolization agent for transarterial chemoembolization of liver cancer was developed and tested. The Irinotecan loaded bovine serumalbumin (BSA) beads were tried to be used as embolic agent of liver cancer therapy. BSA beads were prepared by a water-in-oil emulsion solvent diffusion method in soya oil and Span 85 was used as the emulsifier. The obtained BSA beads were able to swell 2.37-fold comparing to dried beads. Depending on the equilibrium swelling process, the Irinotecan was loaded with 9.8% total drug concentration and tested. In vitro drug release studies showed that a burst release of Irinotecan was achieved. Eventually BSA beads were completely degraded in a few weeks. CCK-8 assay demonstrated that BSA beads showed no cytotoxicity against human umbilical vein endothelial cells, and the Irinotecan loaded BSA beads showed comparable cytotoxicity against Hep G2, a human liver carcinoma cell line, as the traditional Irinotecan. In a rabbit model, it was found that BSA beads can successfully be transferred to liver and provide occlusion of small arteries. The present investigation suggested that the BSA beads are promising drug carriers and can potentially be used as temporary embolization agents in interventional oncology.