Several commonly used cancer chemotherapeutic prodrugs, including cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide, are metabolized in the liver by a cytochrome P450 (CYP)-catalyzed prodrug activation reaction that is required for therapeutic activity. Preclinical studies have shown that the chemosensitivity of tumors to these prodrugs can be dramatically increased by P450 gene transfer, which confers the capab...

Present work was inspired by an interesting finding of Raithel et al. (11) about remission of steroid-dependent, chronically active ulcerative colitis (UC) in a patient, after treatment with a combination of fexofenadine, disodium cromoglycate and an amino acid-based formula. Literature reports involvement of mast cells activation and increased histamine secretion in the pathogenesis of colitis...

Triblock copolymeric nanoreactors are introduced as an alternative for liposomes as encapsulating carrier for prodrug activating enzymes. Inosine-adenosine-guanosine preferring nucleoside hydrolase of Trypanosoma vivax, a potential prodrug activating enzyme, was encapsulated in nanometer-sized vesicles constructed of poly(2-methyloxazoline)-block-poly(dimethylsiloxane)-block-(2-methyloxazoline)...

Enzyme-prodrug approaches to cancer therapy, theoretically, have the potential to mediate tumor-selective cytotoxicity. However, even if tumor-specific prodrug activation is achieved, enzyme-prodrug systems investigated thus far comprised a single enzyme and a specific prodrug. Although targeted, such systems constitute single-agent therapy, which may be ineffective and/or may promote developme...

The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a serine protease that is over-expressed in prostate carcinoma and represents a molecular target for selectively releasing an anticancer agent from a prodrug formulation. We have recently investigated a macromolecular prodrug strategy for improved cancer chemotherapy based on 2 features: (i) rapid and selective binding of thiol-reactive prodrugs to the cys...

Frequent side effects of radical treatment modalities and the availability of novel diagnostics have raised the interest in focal therapies for localized prostate cancer. To improve the selectivity and therapeutic efficacy of such therapies, we developed a minimally invasive procedure, based on a novel polymeric photosensitizer prodrug sensitive to urokinase-like plasminogen activator (uPA). Th...

Gene-mediated enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) seeks to increase the therapeutic index of anti-neoplastic agents by promoting selective activation of relatively nontoxic drug derivatives at sites of specific enzyme expression. Glucuronide prodrugs are attractive for GDEPT due to their low toxicity, bystander effect in the interstitial tumor space and the large range of possible glucuronide drug t...

Background: Poor pharmacokinetic profiles and resistance are the main two drawbacks from which currently used antiviral agents suffer, thus make them excellent targets for research, especially in the presence of viral pandemics such as HIV and hepatitis C. Methods: The strategies employed in the studies covered in this review were sorted by the type of drug synthesized into ester prodrugs, targ...

Tumor directed cytotoxic therapy is one of the major challenges for the success of chemotherapy. In order to accomplish this goal in neuroblastoma, we rationally designed a prodrug of etoposide as substrate for tyrosine hydroxylase, a well established neuroblastoma associated enzyme. Here, we report synthesis and characterization of a 3,4 dihydroxy-phenyl carbamate derivative of etoposide. In o...

Chemotherapeutic prodrugs have demonstrated success in killing cancer cells; however they also pose harm to healthy cells. The objective of this project was to synthesize an improved prodrug that is selectively activated only in the cancer microenvironment, thus minimally affecting healthy tissue. A photolabile linker was hypothesized to achieve said objective. The Yin group discovered that the...