CHEMICAL APPROACHES FOR IMPROVING DRUG DELIVERY OF KNOWN ANTICANCER COMPOUNDS

Different classes of squalene conjugates have been prepared: the first one containing a disulfide bond that, in the presence of glutathione, is able to trigger the release of a drug unit, the second one containing a tripepidyl sequence selectively cleaved by plasmin and also able to release a drug unit, the last one containinf a fluorescein 5(6)isothiocyanate unit. These compounds are able to self-assemble in water and can improve the delivery of active drugs to tumor tissues and can be helpful in the understanding of nanoparticle cellular uptake.