Prospects for the creation of a liposomal gemcitabine delivery system

Background. Chemotherapy remains the mainstay of drug treatment for malignant neoplasms, but its effectiveness is often limited by the development of drug resistance, low selectivity, and toxicity of the drugs used. Gemcitabine therapy, one of the most commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs, has many limitations, such as a short half-life and rapid degradation of the drug in the body. To improve the therapeutic efficacy of gemcitabine, two main strategies have been proposed – chemical modification of the compound and the creation of delivery systems based on various nanocarriers, in particular liposomes.

Aim. To systematize and summarize the literature data on the prospects of developing a liposomal gemcitabine delivery system.

Materials and methods. The search for materials on the topic under study was carried out using the search and information and library databases PubMed, CyberLeninka, e-Library, ResearchGate. The search for publications was carried out for the period from 1997 to 2025 using keywords / phrases: “liposomes”, “liposome encapsulation”, “liposomal gemcitabine”, “liposomal gemcitabine pharmacokinetics”, etc.

Results. To date, numerous models of liposomal forms of gemcitabine have been developed and are at the preclinical development stage, and only one of them, FF-10832, has reached phase I of clinical trials. According to the results of a comparative study of the traditional and nanostructured forms of gemcitabine presented in the analyzed publications, liposomal gemcitabine demonstrates a higher therapeutic effect in in vivo experiments due to increased bioavailability and targeted delivery to tumor cells. However, the main problem in creating an optimal liposomal composition of gemcitabine remains the low level of drug encapsulation in vesicles, which can be overcome by selecting a lipid composition or developing a rational loading method.

Conclusion. The literature data on the use of gemcitabine in the treatment of malignant neoplasms and the prospects for developing its liposomal delivery system have been systematized and summarized. It has been shown that the inclusion of gemcitabine in liposomes allows eliminating the problems associated with antitumor therapy with this drug.

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