A Novel Drug Design Strategy: An Inspiration from Encaging Tumor by Metallofullerenol Gd@C82(OH)22

Cancer remains a major threat to human health worldwide. Cytotoxicity has imposed restrictions on the conventional cytotoxic drug-based chemotherapy. The rapidly-developing nanomedicine has shown great promise in revolutionizing chemotherapy with improved efficiency and reduced toxicity. Gd@C82(OH)22, a novel endohedral metallofullerenol, was first reported by our research group to suppress tumor growth and metastasis efficiently without obvious toxicity. Gd@C82(OH)22 imprisons tumors by facilitating the formation of surrounding fibrous layers which is different from chemotherapeutics that poison tumor cells. In this review, the authors first reported the antineoplastic activity of metallofullerenol Gd@C82(OH)22 followed by further discussions on its new anti-cancer molecular mechanism—tumor encaging. On this basis, the unparalleled advantages of nanomedicine in the future drug design are discussed. The unique interaction modes of Gd@C82(OH)22 with specific targeted biomolecules may shed light on a new avenue for drug design. Depending on the surface characteristics of target biomolecules, nanomedicine, just like a transformable and dynamic key, can self-assemble into suitable shapes to match several locks for the thermodynamic stability, suggesting the target-tailoring ability of nanomedicine.