Tumor microenvironment stimuli-responsive lipid-drug conjugates for cancer treatment

Abstract

Lipid drug conjugates (LDCs) have attracted considerable attention in the fields of drug delivery and pharmacology due to their ability to target specific cells, increase drug solubility, reduce toxicity, and improve therapeutic efficacy. These unique features make LDCs promising candidates for the treatment cancer, inflammation, and infectious diseases. In fact, by choosing specific linkers between the lipid and drug molecules, stimuli-responsive LDCs can be designed to target cancer cells based on the unique properties of the tumor microenvironment. Despite the fact that many reviews have described LDCs, few articles have focused on tumor microenvironmental stimuli-responsive LDCs for cancer treatment. Therefore, the key elements of these types of LDCs in cancer treatment will be outlined and discussed in this paper. Our paper goes into detail on the concepts and benefits of LDCs, the various types of tumor microenvironment stimuli-responsive LDCs (such as pH, redox, enzyme, or reactive oxygen species-responsive LDCs), and the current status of LDCs in clinical trials.

Keywords: Cancer; Lipid-drug conjugate; Prodrug; Tumor microenvironment.