Therapeutic effects of hybrid liposomes without drugs for rheumatoid arthritis.

Hybrid liposomes (HLs) can be prepared by simply sonicating a mixture of vesicular and micellar molecules in buffer solutions. This study aims to demonstrate inhibitory effects of HLs on the growth of fibroblast-like synoviocytes along with apoptosis and therapeutic effects of HLs in a mouse model with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). HLs composed of 95 mol% L-α-dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and 5 mol% polyoxyethylene(23)dodecyl ether (C12(EO)23) were prepared by the sonication method. The inhibitory effects of HLs on the growth of human fibroblast-like synoviocytes-RA (HFLS-RA) cells in vitro and their inhibitory mechanism were examined. High inhibitory effects of HLs on the growth of HFLS-RA cells were observed. The induction of apoptosis by HLs was revealed on the basis of flow cytometric analysis. Furthermore, therapeutic effects of HLs in the mouse model with RA were examined in vivo. Our results demonstrate that HLs showed inhibitory effects on the growth of HFLS-RA cells in vitro along with apoptosis and therapeutic effects in mouse models of RA in vivo.