Figure 1. Development of Nanolipolee-007 and comparison of its killing efficacy on normal as well as on melanoma cells.
1A. To identify a novel drug targeting multiple key pathways in melanoma, a cell-based screen was undertaken of a natural product library, identifying leelamine (1A, left panel). Abietic acid, structurally similar to leelamine had no effect on melanoma cell viability (1A, right panel). 1B. Schematic of Nanolipolee-007. 1C. Size and charge of Nanolipolee-007 was 70-80 nm in size with a neutral surface charge in saline. The particle size and charge characteristics were established using a Malvern Zetasizer. 1D. Efficacy of Nanolipolee-007 for killing normal and melanoma cells. Nanolipolee-007 was 5.69-fold more effective at killing metastatic melanoma than normal cells, suggesting potential cancer therapeutic utility at concentrations <2.26 μmol/L (P < 0.01, one-way analysis of variance). Data represents an average of at least 3 independent experiments.