Production and characterization of liposomes and polymersomes for encapsulation of L-asparaginase

L-asparaginase is an essential component for the treatment of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Nevertheless, direct exposure to the enzyme might lead to antibodies development and several side effects. Thus, in order to improve treatment efficacy, this work aimed to nanoencapsulate L-asparaginase into polymeric nanovesicles (polymersomes) formed by PEG-PCL (poly(ethylene-glycol)-polycaprolactone) and PEG-PLA (poly(ethylene-glycol)-poly(lactic-acid)) and liposomes formed by POPC (1-palmytoil-2-oleoyll-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) containing or not cholesterol at 20%. The vesicles were prepared through film hydration followed by electroporation and purification by size exclusion chromatography. ​Dynamic light scattering, micro BCA and Nessler methods were used to characterize the samples. Al​though encapsulation efficiencies were low (around 0.6% for liposomes and 0.5% for polymersomes ) the obtained values are comparable to other literature results. Nessler assay indicated that L-asparaginase activity is maintained after electroporation and the obtained samples have up to 20 U/g for liposomes and 62 U/g for polymersomes.