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Nanomedicine from amphiphilizedprodrugs: Concept and clinical translation
Jiajia Xiang1, Xin Liu2, Guiping Yuan3
1Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Smart BioMaterials and Center for Bionanoengineering, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China; Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Hangzhou, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311215, China.
Abstract:
Nanomedicines generally consisting of carrier materials with small fractions of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) have long been used to improve the pharmacokinetics and biodistributions, augment the therapeutic efficacies and mitigate the side effects. Amphiphilizing hydrophobic/hydrophilic drugs to prodrugs capable of self-assembly into well-defined nanostructures has emerged as a facile approach to fabricating nanomedicines because this amphiphilized prodrug (APD) strategy presents many advantages, including minimized use of inert carrier materials, well-characterized prodrug structures, fixed and high drug loading contents, 100% loading efficiency, and burst-free but controlled drug release. This review comprehensively summarizes recent advances in APDs and their nanomedicines, from the rationale and the stimuli-responsive linker chemistry for on-demand drug release to their progress to the clinics, clinical performance of APDs, as well as the challenges and perspective on future development.
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