Disulfide-Crosslinked mPEG-PLA-(LA)4 Nanomicelles for Taxane Delivery in Breast Cancer Therapy

Taxanes represent a crucial class of chemotherapeutic agents clinically employed for the treatment of various malignancies, including breast cancer. Three commonly utilized taxanes—paclitaxel (Taxol), docetaxel (Taxotere), and cabazitaxel—are substantially limited by inherent drawbacks such as poor aqueous solubility, rapid clearance, and non-specific distribution. To enhance their anti-tumor efficacy against breast cancer, an mPEG-PLA-(LA)4 nanomicelle carrier was designed and synthesized in this study for the loading of these three taxanes. These nanomicelles were designed to improve the aqueous compatibility and nanomicelle-mediated delivery of hydrophobic taxanes. In vivo animal experiments were conducted to evaluate the therapeutic effects of the three drug-loaded nanomicelles on subcutaneous human breast cancer MCF-7 xenografts in BALB/c nude mice. The results demonstrated that the injectable paclitaxel, docetaxel, and cabazitaxel micelles exhibited significant inhibitory effects on the MCF-7 xenograft tumors. These findings suggest that mPEG-PLA-(LA)4 DS nanomicelles may serve as a structurally defined and versatile carrier platform for hydrophobic taxane delivery.