Despite the emergence of advanced
therapeutics such as targeted
therapy and
immunotherapy in the modern oncology, cytotoxic
chemotherapy still remains as the first-line treatment option in a wide range of
cancers attributing to its potency. Many endeavors have been made to overcome the toxicity issues of cytotoxic
chemotherapy by improving the specific delivery to the
tumor, with active
tumor targeting being one of the most popular approaches. However, such an approach has been challenged by the intratumor heterogeneity and the lack of valid molecular target in many types of
cancer. Here, we introduce a novel
albumin-binding
prodrug MPD02 that could specifically deliver highly potent
cytotoxin monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) to the
tumor as an important component of
chemoradiotherapy for the treatment of
triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). MPD02 was synthesized by conjugating MMAE to the C-terminus of the KGDEVD
peptide via self-eliminating linker and introducing a
maleimide group to the Lys side chain of the
peptide. MPD02 was able to bind
albumin after administration via
maleimide group for an extended circulation time and metabolized into MMAE in
tumor-specific manner by reacting with the
caspase-3 upregulated in
tumor by
radiotherapy, exerting a highly potent anticancer effect with good safety profile in two different TNBC xenograft models.