The effect of lengths of branched-chain fatty alcohols on the efficacy and safety of docetaxel-prodrug nanoassemblies

The self-assembly prodrugs are usually consisted of drug modules, activation modules, and assembly modules. Keeping the balance between efficacy and safety by selecting suitable modules remains a challenge for developing prodrug nanoassemblies. This study designed four docetaxel (DTX) prodrugs using disulfide bonds as activation modules and different lengths of branched-chain fatty alcohols as assembly modules (C16, C18, C20, and C24). The lengths of the assembly modules determined the self-assembly ability of prodrugs and affected the activation modules' sensitivity. The extension of the carbon chains improved the prodrugs' self-assembly ability and pharmacokinetic behavior while reducing the cytotoxicity and increased cumulative toxicity. The use of C20 can balance efficacy and safety. These results provide a great reference for the rational design of prodrug nanoassemblies. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Pharmaceutical Association and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NCND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).