In recent decades, a large number of research studies have been conducted to improve the treatment strategy against epithelial ovarian cancer, but women in advanced stage still have poor outcomes. The development of advanced treatments must be continued to overcome the limitation. Docetaxel, a semi-synthetic product derived from the Pacific Taxus extract, has been studied for many years for its potent anticancer applications. Aiming to solve the problems of its highly lipophilicity, insolubility and adverse side effects, nanocarriers were applied. Relying on the integration of nanoparticles which had optimized sizes, shapes, and surface properties, the effect of docetaxel was enhanced. In this study, we designed a novel drug loaded gel-forming nanoparticle system (Doc-NMs-hydrogel composites), which acted as a sustained drug depot for docetaxel. Docetaxel was encapsulated into MPEG-PCL and then into blank thermosensitive hydrogel Pluronic F-127. Characterization showed that the prepared Doc-NMs had high drug loading (7%), minor particle size (37 nm), relatively good water solubility. Moreover, the cytotoxicity, apoptosis induction and the antitumor effects of Doc-NMs-hydrogel composites on mice abdominal SKOV-3 ovarian cancer model were investigated in vivo. Compared with other groups, at the same dosage, Doc-NMs-hydrogel composites show better apoptosis induction and cell growth inhibition. In conclusion, the prepared Doc-NMs-hydrogel composites enhanced anti-tumor activity by increasing local docetaxel concentration, maintaining stable and sustained drug release, prolonging drug retention time in tumors, and reducing toxicity to normal tissues. Doc-NMs-hydrogel composites might have great potential clinical application in anti-ovarian cancer activity.
