Disulfide Bond-Responsive Nanotherapeutic Systems for the Effective Payload in Cancer Therapy

Background: The progressive treatment of cancer using disulfide bond-based therapeutics offers improvement in therapeutic potency of active, reduction in adverse events, prolongation of drug release pattern and on-site action by interacting with neoplastic cell microenvironment. Objective: The objective of this article is to highlight the research carried out on disulfide bond-based drug delivery systems as a potential candidate for cancer treatment. Methods: The article provides an overview of the importance of disulfide bonds in cancer treatment in terms of their properties, mechanism of formation/fragmentation and applications. Properties of disulfide bonds, such as pKa, entropy, and dihedral angle contribute to the structural stability of the bonds in a nanotherapeutic system, while their formation and fragmentation are attributed to the presence of a high concentration of GSH in cancer cells. The article further focuses on various drug delivery systems like dendrimers, liposomes, micelles, etc. involving disulfide cross-linked polymers for the preparation of redox-responsive drug delivery systems. Results: The use of nanotechnology with disulfide bond creates an anticancer drug delivery system with higher target specificity, improved bioavailability, and good therapeutic efficacy. Conclusion: In the near future, the combination of DSB with active, cellular material, stem cell and biological fluid will be considered as a new thrust area for research in healthcare.