Synthesis and Evaluation of Trehalose‐Based Mertansine Warheads for Bacillus Calmette–Guérin Delivery of Anticancer Agents
Nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) accounts for 75% of bladder cancer cases, with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy as the gold standard for high-risk patients. BCG elicits a robust immune response but is limited by adverse effects and resistance. To enhance its efficacy, a trehalose-based conjugation strategy is developed, tethering a cytostatic agent to BCG via a cleavable disulfide linker. This system enables selective drug integration into the BCG envelope and controlled release in tumor cells, aiming to improve therapeutic precision while minimizing toxicity. This approach combines immunotherapy with targeted chemotherapy, offering a promising strategy for NMIBC treatment.
Authors
- Michael Grimmeisen
- Jonas Meyer
- Trinh Tuyet Dao
- Oliver Gorka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8245-3008)
- Olaf Groß (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8660-3619)
- Samir Benkhelifa
- Claudia Jessen‐Trefzer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4216-8189)
- Melissa Weldle
- Yufan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3104-1070)
- Xuan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4952-4619)
- Kerstin Sartory
Institutions
- University of Fribourg (CH)
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University Medical Center Freiburg (DE)
- Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ChemBioChem
- Published
- 2025-05-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202500390
- Primary Topic
- Bladder and Urothelial Cancer Treatments
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
- Université de Montpellier
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
- Medizinische Fakultät der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg