Advanced Rose Bengal Delivery Systems for the local and systemic management of cancer.

Rose Bengal is a promising anticancer agent with proven cytotoxicity against several cell lines. Still, its high water solubility and poor lipophilic tendency hinder its therapeutic efficiency. Thus, the current PhD thesis focused on the project, development and characterisation of advanced Rose Bengal delivery systems for local and systemic cancer therapy. Rose Bengal was mainly investigated to manage melanoma cancer following skin administration routes. Rose Bengal was formulated in liposome-like vesicles, and their permeation through the skin was enhanced by the mean of the microneedle technique. Lastly, Rose Bengal was included in a 3D-printed implantable device to provide a long-term delivery for in situ cancer therapy.