Construction of glutathione-responsive paclitaxel prodrug nanoparticles for image-guided targeted delivery and breast cancer therapy

Paclitaxel (PTX) remains an essential drug in the treatment of breast cancer. To improve metabolic stability and real-time monitoring of drug location, we develop a visualized nano-prodrug. Novel hyaluronic acid (HA)-coated glutathione (GSH)-sensitive chitosan (CS)-based nano-prodrug (HA/TPE-CS-SS-PTX NPs) with aggregation-induced emission effects (AIE) were accomplished. The prodrug NPs (drug loading 29.32%, particle size 105 nm, regular sphericity) exhibit excellent fluorescence stability. The prodrug NPs could target tumor cells with high expression of CD44 and decompose in the presence of high concentrations of glutathione.