Preparation of stable and monodisperse paclitaxel-loaded bovine serum albumin nanoparticles via intermolecular disulfide crosslinking

Paclitaxel (PTX) is one of the most used anti-cancer drugs worldwide. Due to its insolubility in water, the clinically available liquid formulation of PTX contains Cremophor EL that is responsible for severe hypersensitivity. Albumin-based nanoparticles have emerged as a promising carrier for anti-cancer drugs because albumin nanoparticles have high capacity to not only load lipophilic drugs without solubilizer but also accumulate in tumor by both passive and active mechanisms. In this study, we attempted to prepare solvent-free formulation of PTX-loaded bovine serum albumin (BSA) nanoparticles with high stability, and the