Development of palladium-based multivalent lectin-directed artificial metalloenzymes.

By instilling artificial metalloenzymes (ArMs) with cancer targeting properties, these biocatalysts can be used in prodrug therapies to chemoselectively activate prodrugs within the local tumor environment. In this study, another example of a multivalent lectin-directed artificial metalloenzyme was developed using a palladium-embedded HaloTag-PduU-ACG lectin fusion protein (HtPA-Pd). By combining the targeting ArM with a proc-masked doxorubicin prodrug, this anticancer prodrug therapy was subsequently shown in assays to be biologically active against hypersialylated MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells.