An In Vitro Evaluation of Four Types of Drug-Eluting Embolics Loaded with Idarubicin

Abstract

This study compared loading, elution, and stability of drug-eluting embolic beads (DEBs) loaded with idarubicin. Materials and Methods: DC Bead (100-300 μm), HepaSphere (30-60 μm), LifePearl (200 μm), and Tandem (100 μm) DEBs were loaded with 5 mg/mL idarubicin. Loading, elution, diameter changes, loading stability over 2 weeks in storage, and time in suspension were determined for each of the DEBs. Results: Loading of more than 99% of idarubicin was achieved within 15 minutes for LifePearl, DC Bead, and Tandem beads. LifePearl, DC Bead, HepaSphere, and Tandem beads eluted 75% of the total idarubicin released in 13, 24, 42, and 91 minutes, respectively. In vitro elution was completed in 2 hours with 73% ± 3%, 74% ± 3%, 65% ± 6%, and 7% ± 0% of the loaded idarubicin eluted for LifePearl, DC Bead, HepaSphere, and Tandem, respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed at every time point between at least 2 of the products. Overall, in vitro idarubicin elution was rapid and nearly complete for LifePearl, DC Bead, and HepaSphere beads but was minimal and slow from Tandem beads. The average diameter of DEBs after loading was reduced by 5% for LifePearl, whereas it was increased by 9% and 1% for DC Bead and Tandem, respectively. After loading, time in suspension was 11 ± 4 and 10 ± 2 minutes for LifePearl and HepaSphere, respectively, whereas DC Bead and Tandem beads were held in suspension for greater than 20 minutes. Conclusions: Although all 4 DEBs loaded idarubicin within 15 minutes with minimal changes in diameter, the elution amounts, rates of release, and time in suspension varied. ABBREVIATIONS DEB ¼ drug-eluting embolic beads, HCC ¼ hepatocellular carcinoma, HPLC ¼ high-performance liquid chromatography

Optimized Loading of Idarubicin in CalliSpheres® Drug-Eluting Beads and Characterization of Release Profiles and Morphological Properties

“…The release profiles of CalliSpheres ® with 20 mg of IDA loaded in PBS and PBS + 10% FBS are shown in Figure 3. The IDA concentration in the control group decreased during the experiment, which was consistent with previous reports [8]. The results reveal that CalliSpheres ® had a sustained release ability, and the release rate decreased with an increase in the CalliSpheres ® particle sizes.…”

“…The application of IDA in TACE has been proved by previous studies [4,5], which have also revealed some advantages that IDA might have in HCC therapy [6,7]. Some previous studies have investigated the ability to load IDA to classic embolic beads [8], such as DC Bead TM (BTG, Surry, UK) and HepaSphere TM (Merit Medical, South Jordan, UT, USA). However, the detailed IDA loading profiles, such as dosage, concentration, and drug loading time and medium, have not been studied clearly.…”

<p>Drug-eluting Bead-Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Refractory to Conventional Lipiodol-based Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization</p>

“…HepaSphere® and DC bead, the size of DEB after anticancer loading and time in drug elution were shown to be different between each DEB. 36 In an in vivo model, HepaSphere® was shown to induce higher local concentration of anticancer drug compared with DC bead. 37 Furthermore, we could not show the differences of antitumor effect between epirubicin and arterial cisplatin in the present study.…”

Polymer microparticles with a cavity designed for transarterial chemo‐embolization with crystalline drug formulations

“…During the last 10–15 years, we witnessed the development and clinical introduction of so‐called drug‐eluting beads (DEBs) to be used in TACE 14 . These are embolic polymer microspheres loaded with a chemotherapeutic agent, such as doxorubicin, irinotecan, idarubicin, and sunitinib 15‐26 . A particularly attractive feature of drug‐eluting embolic beads (DEB‐TACE) is that toxic side‐effects of the drug to healthy parts of the body are largely avoided.…”

“…14 These are embolic polymer microspheres loaded with a chemotherapeutic agent, such as doxorubicin, irinotecan, idarubicin, and sunitinib. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] A particularly attractive feature of drug-eluting embolic beads (DEB-TACE) is that toxic side-effects of the drug to healthy parts of the body are largely avoided. Such side-effects frequently become very problematic when chemotherapeutics are administered systemically (e.g., via intravenous injection).…”