Cholic acid-based novel micellar nanoplatform for delivering FDA-approved taxanes

Aim: To structurally modify our existing cholic acid (CA)-based telodendrimer (TD; PEG^5K-CA₈) for effective micellar nanoencapsulation and delivery of the US FDA-approved members of taxane family. Materials & methods: Generation of hybrid TDs was achieved by replacing four of the eight CAs with biocompatible organic moieties using solution-phase peptide synthesis. Drug loading was done using the standard evaporation method. Results: Hybrid TDs can generate micelles with narrow size distributions, low critical micelle concentration values (1–6 μM), better hematocompatibility and lack of in vitro cytotoxicity. Conclusion: Along with PEG^5K-CA₈, CA-based hybrid nanoplatform is the first of its kind that can stably encapsulate all three FDA-approved taxanes with nearly 100% efficiency up to 20% (w/w) loading.