β-Lapachone (β-Lap) is a promising orthonaphthoquinone drug for cancer treatment and has been inclinical trials. Its application is constrained by the low aqueoussolubility, and severe side effects. Even prodrug des...β-Lapachone (β-Lap) is a promising orthonaphthoquinone drug for cancer treatment and has been inclinical trials. Its application is constrained by the low aqueoussolubility, and severe side effects. Even prodrug designation isan effective approach to render it with tumor selectivity, it islimited by the lack of modifiable groups on β-Lap. Herein, anovel azo bond primary cleavage and carbon–carbon (C–C)bond secondary cleavage-based polymeric β-Lap prodrug(Azo-Lap NP) is designed, in which the self-immolated paraaminobenzyl linker is connected to poly(L-glutamic acid)(PGlu) via azo linkage and the responsive drug release of β-Lapagainst tumors can be achieved under high NAD(P)H:quinoneoxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) expression and low pH environmentin tumors. The effective covalent loading of β-Lap by Azo-LapNPs permitted a high administration dose of β-Lap and enabled significant tumor retention time. Moreover, Azo-LapNPs markedly reduced the side effects of β-Lap by avoidinghemolysis and the production of methemoglobin. The safety ofAzo-Lap NPs administration is validated in the antitumorexperiment of mice. In the 4T1 model, Azo-Lap NPs exhibiteda markedly higher tumor suppression rate than β-Lap. Thiswork provides an effective and safe polymeric prodrug fortumor selective delivery of β-Lap.展开更多
基金financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (2022YFE0110200)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52025035, 52273157, and 52073279)+1 种基金the Department of Science and Technology of Jilin Province (20240305041YY and 20230508102RC)the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2022224)。
文摘β-Lapachone (β-Lap) is a promising orthonaphthoquinone drug for cancer treatment and has been inclinical trials. Its application is constrained by the low aqueoussolubility, and severe side effects. Even prodrug designation isan effective approach to render it with tumor selectivity, it islimited by the lack of modifiable groups on β-Lap. Herein, anovel azo bond primary cleavage and carbon–carbon (C–C)bond secondary cleavage-based polymeric β-Lap prodrug(Azo-Lap NP) is designed, in which the self-immolated paraaminobenzyl linker is connected to poly(L-glutamic acid)(PGlu) via azo linkage and the responsive drug release of β-Lapagainst tumors can be achieved under high NAD(P)H:quinoneoxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) expression and low pH environmentin tumors. The effective covalent loading of β-Lap by Azo-LapNPs permitted a high administration dose of β-Lap and enabled significant tumor retention time. Moreover, Azo-LapNPs markedly reduced the side effects of β-Lap by avoidinghemolysis and the production of methemoglobin. The safety ofAzo-Lap NPs administration is validated in the antitumorexperiment of mice. In the 4T1 model, Azo-Lap NPs exhibiteda markedly higher tumor suppression rate than β-Lap. Thiswork provides an effective and safe polymeric prodrug fortumor selective delivery of β-Lap.
