A novel glutathione-triggered theranostic prodrug for anticancer and imaging in living cells

RSC Adv. 2018 Mar 22;8(21):11419-11423. doi: 10.1039/c8ra00271a. eCollection 2018 Mar 21.

Abstract

A novel theranostic prodrug was designed and synthesized by conjugating a naphthalimide derivative with vitamin D2 via a disulfide linker. The prodrug featured a highly selective detection process for glutathione (GSH) and showed a red-shifted fluorescence within 30 min. Notably, it also exhibited antitumor activity similar to vitamin D2 and could be monitored by cellular imaging.