Issue 37, 2018

Bright insights into palladium-triggered local chemotherapy

Abstract

The incorporation of transition metal catalysts to the bioorthogonal toolbox has opened the possibility of producing supra-stoichiometric amounts of xenobiotics in living systems in a non-enzymatic fashion. For medical use, such metals could be embedded in implantable devices (i.e. heterogeneous catalyst) to “synthesize” drugs in desired locations (e.g. in a tumour) with high specificity and for extended periods of time, overcoming the useful life limitations of current local therapy modalities directed to specific organ sites (e.g. brachytherapy, controlled release systems). To translate this approach into a bona fide therapeutic option, it is essential to develop clinically-accessible implantation procedures and to understand and validate the activation process in relevant preclinical models. Herein we report the development of a novel Pd-activatable precursor of the red-fluorescent drug doxorubicin and Pd devices of optimized size and activity. Screening in state-of-the-art cancer models provided fundamental insights into the insertion protocols, safety and stability of the devices and into the prodrug distribution profile before and after activation.

Graphical abstract: Bright insights into palladium-triggered local chemotherapy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
24 May 2018
Accepted
16 Jul 2018
First published
17 Jul 2018
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2018,9, 7354-7361

Bright insights into palladium-triggered local chemotherapy

T. L. Bray, M. Salji, A. Brombin, A. M. Pérez-López, B. Rubio-Ruiz, L. C. A. Galbraith, E. E. Patton, H. Y. Leung and A. Unciti-Broceta, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 7354 DOI: 10.1039/C8SC02291G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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