Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Theranostic Vitamin–Linker–Taxoid Conjugates

Novel tumor-targeting theranostic conjugates 1 and 2, bearing either a fluorine-labeled prosthetic as a potential ¹⁸F-PET radiotracer (1) or a fluorescence probe (2) for internalization studies in vitro, were designed and synthesized. We confirmed efficient internalization of 2 in biotin-receptor positive (BR+) cancer cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis (RME) based on flow cytometry and confocal fluorescence microscopy (CFM) analyses, which exhibited very high specificity to BR+ cancer cells. The potency and cancer-cell selectivity of 1 were evaluated against MX-1, L1210FR and ID8 cancer cells (BR+) as well as L1210 cells and WI38 normal human lung fibroblast cells (biotin-receptor negative: BR−). In particular, we designed and performed an assay in the presence of glutathione ethyl ester (GSH-OEt) wherein only 1 molecules internalized into cells via RME in the first 24 h period exert cytotoxic effect. The observed selectivity of 1 was remarkable, with 2 orders of magnitude difference in IC₅₀ values between BR+ cancer cells and WI38 cells, demonstrating a salient feature of this tumor-targeted drug delivery system.