title: Prodrug-based nanoparticulate drug delivery strategies for cancer therapy.
abstract: Despite the rapid developments in nanotechnology and biomaterials, the efficient delivery of chemotherapeutic agents is still challenging. Prodrug-based nanoassemblies have many advantages as a potent platform for anticancer drug delivery, such as improved drug availability, high drug loading efficiency, resistance to recrystallization upon encapsulation, and spatially and temporally controllable drug release. In this review, we discuss prodrug-based nanocarriers for cancer therapy, including nanosystems based on polymer-drug conjugates, self-assembling small molecular weight prodrugs and prodrug-encapsulated nanoparticles (NPs). In addition, we discuss new trends in the field of prodrug-based nanoassemblies that enhance the delivery efficiency of anticancer drugs, with special emphasis on smart stimuli-triggered drug release, hybrid nanoassemblies, and combination drug therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, PR China.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biopharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, PR China; Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Pharmacokinetics, Tianjin Institute of Pharmaceutical Research, Tianjin 300193, PR China. Electronic address: sunjin66@21cn.com.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, PR China.
authors.forename: Bingjun
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, PR China. Electronic address: hezhonggui@vip.163.com.
authors.forename: Zhonggui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D011355:Prodrugs / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004337:Drug Carriers; D011355:Prodrugs
keywords: cancer therapy; combination therapy; hybrid nanoassemblies; prodrug nanoassemblies; stimuli-responsive