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Updated: Aug 6, 2025
A Facile and Efficient Approach for the Production of Reversible Disulfide Cross-linked Micelles
Published on: December 23, 2016
An EGCG-mediated self-assembled micellar complex acts as a bioactive drug carrier
Chao Liu1, Hao Wu2, Hongxia Duan1
1State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulations, Department of Pharmaceutics, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, PR China.
Abstract:
Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) has attracted the increasing attention of many researchers, especially in the field of tumor therapy. However, EGCG has poor fat solubility, low stability, low bioavailability, and a high effective dose in vivo. Traditional drug delivery methods are difficult to deliver the water-soluble EGCG efficiently and in high doses to tumor sites. To address these issues, a new type of strategy has been tried in this study to transform EGCG from a "Bioactive natural ingredient" into a "Bioactive drug carrier". Briefly, the EGCG was modified with a fat-soluble 9-fluorene methoxy carbonyl (Fmoc) motif, and the obtained EGCG-Fmoc showed a considerable improvement in lipid solubility and stability. Interestingly, EGCG-Fmoc obtained the characteristic of self-assembly in water, making it easier to take up by tumor cells. Furthermore, the self-assembled nanocomplex exhibited paclitaxel encapsulation performance and could achieve the dual delivery of EGCG and paclitaxel.
