Research progress on metabolism and efficacy of small molecular prodrug nanosystems responsive to tumor redox microenvironment / 药学学报

ABSTRACT

Compared with normal tissues and cells, the tumor microenvironment has significant differences. For example, glutathione-related metabolic enzymes and reactive oxygen species are highly expressed in different subcellular structures, resulting in an unbalanced redox state. Aiming at the specific redox state in tumor tissues and cells, a series of small molecule prodrug self-assembled nanoparticles can be designed and connected by intelligent response linkers including disulfide bonds, sulfide bonds, and selenium bonds, thioketal bonds, etc. The in vitro and in vivo efficiency and metabolic mode of these nanoparticles are related to the type of linker. This review will summarize the tumor redox microenvironment, the design of intelligent responsive small molecule prodrug nanoparticles, and the metabolic pathways of small molecule prodrug nanoparticles with different connecting linkers and their relationship with drug efficacy.