Substrate mediated enzyme prodrug therapy

Substrate mediated enzyme prodrug therapy (SMEPT) is a biomedical platform developed to perform a localized synthesis of drugs mediated by implantable biomaterials. This approach combines the benefits and at the same time offers to overcome the drawbacks for traditional pill-based drug administration and site-specific, implant mediated drug delivery. Specifically, SMEPT offers the flexibility of delivering multiple drugs - individually as monotherapy, in sequence, or as a combination therapy, all of which is also accomplished in a site-specific manner. This technology is also unique for site-specific synthesis of drugs with short half-life, such as nitric oxide. This review presents historical development of SMEPT from early reports to the most recent examples, and also outlines potential avenues for subsequent development of this platform. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.