Novel Liposomal Nanoparticles-DP1 Encapsulating Valerenic Acid in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Valerenic acid (VA) is one of the classic traditional Chinese medicines. The advent of liposomal nanoparticles (LNPs) might strengthen on-target effect of drugs and reduce side effects. Our study aimed to explore the antitumor activity of liposomal nanoparticle encapsulating valerenic acid (LNP-DP1-VA) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). LNPs were prepared for targeted delivery of VA and the in vivo and in vitro release characteristics were detected. Flow cytometry and 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide, Thiazolyl Blue Tetrazolium Bromide (MTT) were conducted to assess the proliferation and apoptosis of HCC cells (Hep3B) and tumor volume was measured. With average particle size of 310 nm, the synthetic LNPs were distributed uniformly and presented circular in shape. Treatment with LNP-DP1-VA increased apoptosis of Hep3B cells and suppressed clone formation as well as blocked cell cycle when decreasing cell proliferation.Moreover, LNP-DP1-VA resulted in the decreased level of Wnt as well as β-catenin, preventing these proteins from entering the nucleus. LNP-DP1-VA can delay progression of HCC by regulating the expression of Wnt/β-catenin and it is a novel promising alternative for HCC treatment.