Rational design of liposomes for sustained release drug delivery of bevacizumab to treat ocular angiogenesis

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) and Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) are the most common ocular diseases and a leading cause of blindness in American adults. Laser treatments and drug intervention with Ranibizumab, Aflibercept and Bevacizumab are available for controlling angiogenesis by inhibiting the growth of new blood vessels. These antibody injections are given monthly into the eye which are inconvenient as well as very expensive. Our research focuses on encapsulating the protein drugs within the liposomes to obtain drug release over a longer period, thereby decreasing the frequency and cost of the injections. We used calorimetric, spectroscopic and light scattering methods to identify the variations in the liposomes in terms of particle size, encapsulation efficiency, time of release and thermal stabilities to screen and downsize our ideal formulations to three with the DPPC: DOPE: DPPG: cholesterol compositions of 60:10:0:30, 65:5:5:25 and 60:5:5:30. Overall, his paper focuses on developing Bevacizumab loaded liposomes for extended released drug delivery to treat ocular angiogenesis. In vitro biological activity and RPE cell cytotoxicity were also tested to determine the efficacy of the drug delivery system for potential human use.