A novel therapy for ovarian cancer using real-time imaging

The present study was designed to develop an activable, dual-targeted theranostic platform combining fluorescent and cytotoxic templates to provide a novel strategy for specific drug delivery and cellular imaging in ovarian cancer cells. Two compounds of a folic acid-prodrug-doxorubicin (Dox) scaffold were synthesized, and their antiproliferative activities were evaluated using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and flow cytometric analysis. The process of drug release was investigated using fluorescence emission spectra assay and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The results showed that the synthesized compounds exhibited potent antitumor activities against ovarian cell lines. Among them, compound le exhibited the most potent activity demonstrating half maximal inhibitory concentration values of 0.85 +/- 0.10, 8.64 +/- 0.37 and 0.81 +/- 0.03 mu M against A2780, A2780/Dox and A2780/cisplatin cell lines. The fluorescence imaging of live cell lines also provided an easy and reliable method to monitor site-specific drug activities through turn-on systems induced by drug release. The results of the present study may assist in the treatment of ovarian cancer cells with strengthened efficiency and real-time imaging, which may be used as a multifunctional system for the optimization of anticancer drugs.