Transformative Nanomedicine of an Amphiphilic Camptothecin Prodrug for Long Circulation and High Tumor Uptake in Cancer Therapy

We report a camptothecin (CPT) prodrug that was well formulated in solution and rapidly transformed into long-circulating nanocomplexes in vivo for highly efficient drug delivery and effective cancer therapy. Specifically, using a redox-responsive disulfide linker, CPT was conjugated with an albumin-binding Evans blue (EB) derivative; the resulting amphiphilic CPT-ss-EB prodrug self-assembled into nanostructures in aqueous solution, thus...