Bundling potent natural toxin cantharidin within platinum (IV) prodrugs for liposome drug delivery and effective malignant neuroblastoma treatment

Neuroblastoma (NB) is one of the most commonly seen malignancies in childhood and infancy. Cantharidin is a highly potent natural toxin that possesses potent anti-tumor properties on various cancers including NB. However, exposure to cantharidin can cause severe chemical burns and application of cantharidin for cancer therapy is limited. Here we report a strategy of bundling cantharidin within a hybrid platinum (IV) prodrug conjugate. This hydrophobic drug conjugate , ie, CanPt can be further formulated into liposome for drug delivery to minimize the exposure of cantharidin to normal cells for efficient chemotherapeutic agent against NB.