Intracellular Enzyme-Responsive Profluorophore and Prodrug Nanoparticles for Tumor-Specific Imaging and Precise Chemotherapy

Responsive drug delivery systems possess great potential in disease diagnosis and treatment. Herein, we develop an activatable prodrug and fluorescence imaging material by engineering the endogenous NAD(P)-H:quinone oxidoreductase-1 (NQO1) responsive linker. The as-prepared nanomaterials possess the NQO1-switched drug release and fluorescence enablement, which realizes the tumor-specific chemotherapy and imaging in living mice. The enzyme-sensitive prodrug nanoparticles exhibit selectively potent anticancer performance to NQO1-positive cancer and ignorable off-target toxicity. This work provides an alternative strategy for constructing smart prodrug nanoplatforms with precision, selectivity, and practicability for advanced cancer imaging and therapy.

Automated summary

The study developed an activatable prodrug and fluorescence imaging material by engineering the endogenous NAD(P)-H:quinone oxidoreductase-1 (NQO1) responsive linker, enabling tumor-specific chemotherapy and imaging in living mice. The enzyme-sensitive prodrug nanoparticles showed potent anticancer performance to NQO1-positive cancer with minimal off-target toxicity, providing an alternative strategy for constructing smart prodrug nanoplatforms for advanced cancer imaging and therapy.