Abstract:
Leukaemia is a hematopoietic system malignancy depicted by the infiltration of the bone
marrow, blood & other tissues by proliferative, and abnormally differentiated cells of the
hematopoietic system. The available therapies aim to induce cell death of these poorly
differentiated cells by various means. Anthracyclines (doxorubicin) regime remains the standard
first-line treatment for leukaemia. Doxorubicin (DOX) has a potent anticancer activity at higher
dosage concentration which imparts cardiac, renal, and hepatic toxicity. Disulfiram metabolite
complex, zinc diethyldithiocarbamate (Zn-DDC), has a potent anticancer efficacy, however, it
has short half-life primarily attributed to its instability in gastric juice and the blood stream. The
current study employed a "thin film hydration method" to synthesize liposomal nanoparticles
encapsulating doxorubicin (DOX-NPs), Zn-DDC (Zn-DDC-NPs), and both Zn-DDC and DOX
(Zn-DDC+DOX-NPs). In-vitro cytotoxicity and antioxidant assays were performed to assess
their cytotoxicity and antioxidant activity. The liposomes were evaluated against leukaemia in
Wistar rats. After leukaemia induction through benzene, haematological, and serological assays,
and morphological, and histological examination were conducted to evaluate treatment
approaches. All liposomal formulations overcome their limitation, improved the blood
parameters (p>0.05), restored the hepatic, and renal enzyme levels (p>0.05), and reduced the
blast cells in blood and tissues. However, in coencapsulated liposomes Zn-DDC reduce the
cytotoxicity caused by doxorubicin and provide results more analogous to normal
