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Emerging pro-drug and nano-drug strategies for gemcitabine-based cancer therapy

Authors :
Haijie Han
Su Li
Yueyang Zhong
Yue Huang
Kai Wang
Qiao Jin
Jian Ji
Ke Yao
Source :
Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol 17, Iss 1, Pp 35-52 (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
Elsevier, 2022.

Abstract

Gemcitabine has been extensively applied in treating various solid tumors. Nonetheless, the clinical performance of gemcitabine is severely restricted by its unsatisfactory pharmacokinetic parameters and easy deactivation mainly because of its rapid deamination, deficiencies in deoxycytidine kinase (DCK), and alterations in nucleoside transporter. On this account, repeated injections with a high concentration of gemcitabine are adopted, leading to severe systemic toxicity to healthy cells. Accordingly, it is highly crucial to fabricate efficient gemcitabine delivery systems to obtain improved therapeutic efficacy of gemcitabine. A large number of gemcitabine pro-drugs were synthesized by chemical modification of gemcitabine to improve its biostability and bioavailability. Besides, gemcitabine-loaded nano-drugs were prepared to improve the delivery efficiency. In this review article, we introduced different strategies for improving the therapeutic performance of gemcitabine by the fabrication of pro-drugs and nano-drugs. We hope this review will provide new insight into the rational design of gemcitabine-based delivery strategies for enhanced cancer therapy.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
18180876
Volume :
17
Issue :
1
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.5c16ee54f4e54b3a9a6f7531c563db8d
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajps.2021.06.001