Environment Activatable Nanoprodrug: Two-Step Surveillance in the Anticancer Drug Release

Abstract

Remedial cancer therapy deals with a large number of theranostic applications. However, systems, so far known, are only capable of single surveillance for both diagnostic and therapeutic modes of action. A nanosystem, which can be localized to the cancer and deliver the chemotherapeutic agent on demand, will provide effective therapeutic activity. Herein, we designed a single component nanoprodrug ANPD-X (Activatable Nano Pro-Drug-X) which indentified the tumor sites by fluorescent color change (signal 1, blue to green fluorescence) using H₂O₂-mediated oxidation of boronate fluorophore. In the next step, precise spatiotemporal irradiation of light only on identified tumor sites resulted in the release of anticancer drug chlorambucil. The real time information on drug release was achieved by a second fluorescence color change (signal 2, green to blue fluorescence). Thus, nanoprodrug ANPD-X provided overall two-step surveillance in the anticancer drug delivery. Activation of the ANPD-X after addition of H₂O₂ and drug release upon photoirradiation was investigated in vitro by monitoring its fluorescence in the HeLa cell line.