Improving drug delivery performance of pH-triggered prodrug nanoparticles with an adaptive polycation block as pH-sensitive gatekeeper

Efficient approach was established to improve the drug delivery performance of the pH-triggered prodrug nanoparticles by introducing a polycation block as a pH-sensitive gatekeeper. With the help of the poly(2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDPA) block as a pH-sensitive shell gatekeeper, the proposed core-shell-corona PEG 43 - b -PDPA 65 - b -PFPMA 36 -DOX nanoparticles possessed a higher drug release rate in the simulated acidic tumor intracellular micro-environment while a lower premature drug leakage in the simulated weak basic normal physiological medium, compared with the core-shell PEG 43 - b -PFPMA 36 -DOX nanoparticles. The proposed strategy is expected to design high-performance drug delivery systems (DDSs) for tumor treatment, with improved anticancer efficacy but minimized toxic side effects.