Liposomal cisplatin can overcome chemotherapy resistance of A2780 ovarian cancer cells by inducing the extrinsic apoptotic pathway

Liposomes have been considered as promising, but passive carriers in medical sciences to mediate a controlled transport of a drug cargo to target sites or into target cells. Here, we provide evidence that a liposomal drug transport into cells might have stronger consequences for directing the drug activity beyond a simple transport function. Liposomal CDDP induces programmed cell death via the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis, which is in contrast to the drug taken up in free form. It thus appears that this is the key to explain, why liposomal CDDP overcomes cellular resistance regimes in A2780cis cells. These findings shed new light on liposomal drug carrier approaches in cancer and suggest liposomal CDDP as promising strategy for the treatment of CDDP resistant ovarian carcinomas.