Molecular Pharmaceutics
A Dual-Action CXCR4-Targeted Peptide−Drug Conjugate Engineered to Enhance Antitumor Efficacy and Mitigate Myelosuppression in Pancreatic Cancer
Abstract Gemcitabine (GEM) is a first-line therapeutic option for pancreatic cancer; however, it has low efficacy due to rapidly developed drug resistance and severe dose-limiting myelosuppression. To enhance its therapeutic effect, this study developed a novel peptide−drug conjugate using a CXCR4 antagonistic peptide as the targeting head and gemcitabine as the drug payload, based on the characteristics of pancreatic tumor cells highly expressing CXCR4 that mediates immunosuppression and tumor progression through …