{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T09:23:22Z","timestamp":1784280202422,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,29]],"date-time":"2022-05-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1653782400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Australia-China Science and Research Fund-Joint Centre for Personal Health Technologies"},{"name":"Australia and South Australia International Research Grant-International Laboratory for Health Technologies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biosensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this study, a brush-like polymer with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) features was synthesized for drug delivery and intracellular drug tracking. The polymer consisting of tetraphenylethene (TPE) chain-end as well as oligo-poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) and hydrazine functionalities was successfully synthesized through copper (0)-mediated reversible-deactivation radical polymerization (Cu0-mediated RDRP). Anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) was conjugated to the polymer and formed a prodrug named TPE-PEGA-Hyd-DOX, which contains 11% DOX. The hydrazone between DOX and polymer backbone is a pH-sensitive linkage that can control the release of DOX in slightly acidic conditions, which can precisely control the DOX release rate. The drug release of 10% after 96 h in normal cell environments compared with about 40% after 24 h in cancer cell environments confirmed the influence of the hydrazone bond. The ratiometric design of fluorescent intensities with peaks at 410 nm (emission due to AIE feature of TPE) and 600 nm (emission due to ACQ feature of DOX) provides an excellent opportunity for this product as a precise intracellular drug tracker. Cancer cells confocal microscopy showed negligible DOX solution uptake, but an intense green emission originated from prodrug uptake. Moreover, a severe red emission in the DOX channel confirmed a promising level of drug release from the prodrug in the cytoplasm. The merged images of cancer cells confirmed the high performance of the TPE-PEGA-Hyd-DOX compound in the viewpoints of cellular uptake and drug release. This polymer prodrug successfully demonstrates low cytotoxicity in healthy cells and high performance in killing cancer cells.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bios12060373","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,29]],"date-time":"2022-05-29T08:50:51Z","timestamp":1653814251000},"page":"373","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Brush-like Polymer Prodrug with Aggregation-Induced Emission Features for Precise Intracellular Drug Tracking"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Sanaz","family":"Naghibi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for NanoScale Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Tonsley, SA 5042, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Soheila","family":"Sabouri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8085-1651","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuning","family":"Hong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia"},{"name":"Australia-China Joint Research Centre on Personal Health Technologies, Tonsley, SA 5042, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9690-7288","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhongfan","family":"Jia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for NanoScale Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Tonsley, SA 5042, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2718-544X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Youhong","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for NanoScale Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Tonsley, SA 5042, Australia"},{"name":"Australia-China Joint Research Centre on Personal Health Technologies, Tonsley, SA 5042, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"215","article-title":"Principles of cancer treatment by chemotherapy","volume":"39","author":"Dickens","year":"2021","journal-title":"Surgery"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Majeed, H., and Gupta, V. 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