Triglyceride-Mimetic Structure-Gated Prodrug Nanoparticles for Smart Cancer Therapy

Off-target
drug release and insufficient drug delivery are the
main obstacles for effective anticancer chemotherapy. Prodrug-based
self-assembled nanoparticles bioactivated under tumor-specific conditions
are one of the effective strategies to achieve on-demand drug release
and effective tumor accumulation. Herein, stimuli-activable prodrugs
are designed yielding smart tumor delivery by combination of the triglyceride-mimic
(TG-mimetic) prodrug structure and disulfide bond. Surprisingly, these
prodrugs can self-assemble into uniform nanoparticles (NPs) with a
high drug loading (over 40%) and accumulate in tumor sites specifically.
The super hydrophobic TG structure can act as a gate that senses lipase
to selectively control over NP dissociation and affect the glutathione-triggered
prodrug activation. In addition, the impacts of the double bonds in
the prodrug NPs on parent drug release and the following cytotoxicity,
pharmacokinetics, and antitumor efficiency are further demonstrated.
Our findings highlight the promising potential of TG-mimetic structure-gated
prodrug nanoparticles for tumor-specific drug delivery.