Publication at First Faculty of Medicine |
2013
Abstract
Polymer conjugates of anticancer drugs have shown high potential for assisting in cancer treatments. The pH-labile spacers allow site-specific triggered release of the drugs.
We synthesized and characterized model drug conjugates with hydrazide bond-containing poly[N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide] differing in the chemical surrounding of the hydrazone bond-containing spacer to find structure-drug release rate relationships. The conjugate selected for further studies shows negligible drug release in a pH 7.4 buffer but released 50% of the ellipticinium drug within 24 h in a pH 5.0 phosphate saline buffer.
The ellipticinium drug retained the antiproliferative activity of the ellipticine.