Glucocorticoids-based prodrug design: Current strategies and research progress

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology
• Drug Delivery Systems
• Medicinal Chemistry

Background:

• Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely used for their anti-inflammatory, antitoxin, and immunosuppressive properties.
• Long-term GC use leads to significant adverse effects like Cushing's syndrome, osteoporosis, and infections, compromising patient quality of life.
• Advanced drug delivery systems are crucial for mitigating GC-induced toxicity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review strategies for designing glucocorticoid-based prodrugs.
• To summarize recent research progress in glucocorticoid prodrug development.
• To identify key issues for future glucocorticoid prodrug development.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of glucocorticoid prodrug research over recent decades.
• Categorization of prodrug strategies including polymer-based, dendrimer-based, antibody-drug conjugates, peptide-drug conjugates, carbohydrate-based, and aliphatic acid-based prodrugs.

Main Results:

• Prodrugs represent a low-investment, low-risk, high-success strategy for developing safer glucocorticoid therapies.
• Various advanced prodrug platforms are being explored to enhance GC efficacy and reduce side effects.
• Significant progress has been made in developing diverse glucocorticoid prodrug formulations.

Conclusions:

• Glucocorticoid prodrugs are a vital approach to minimize adverse effects and improve therapeutic outcomes.
• Further research and development are needed to address challenges in glucocorticoid prodrug design and application.
• This review provides insights for developing novel GCs and prodrugs.