Novel Paclitaxel Nanoformulation Impairs De Novo Lipid Synthesis in Pancreatic Cancer Cells and Enhances Gemcitabine Efficacy

Pancreatic cancer (PanCa) is a highly lethal disease with a poor 5 year survival rate, less than 7%. It has a dismal prognosis, and more than 50% of cases are detected at an advanced and metastatic stage. Gemcitabine (GEM) is a gold standard chemotherapy used for PanCa treatment. However, GEM-acquired resistance in cancer cells is considered as a major setback for its continued clinical implementation. This phenomenon is evidently linked to lipid synthesis. PanCa cells rely on lipid synthesis, which is a prime event in survival and one of the key drivers for tumorigenesis, cancer progression, and drug resistance. Thus, the depletion of lipogenesis or lipid metabolism can not only improve treatment outcomes but also overcome chemoresistance, which is an unmet clinical need. Toward this effort, our study reports a unique paclitaxel-poly(lactic--glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (PPNPs) formulation which can target lipid metabolism and improve anticancer efficacy of GEM in PanCa cells. PPNPs inhibit excessive lipid formation and alter membrane stability with compromised membrane integrity, which was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared and zeta potential measurements. The effective interference of PPNPs in lipid metabolic signaling was determined by reduction in the expression of FASN, ACC, lipin, and Cox-2 proteins. This molecular action profoundly enhances efficacy of GEM as evident through enhanced inhibitory effects on the tumorigenic and metastasis assays in PanCa cells. These data clearly suggest that the ablation of lipid metabolism might offer an innovative approach for the improved therapeutic outcome in PanCa patients.