Design, Synthesis, and Investigation of pH-sensitive Linkers as Potential Cytotoxic Delivery Moieties

Pro-survival BCL-XL proteins have been previously reported to be a promising target for cancer drug therapy, as they are widely expressed in various malignancies. This thesis describes the synthesis of effective chemical entities designed to inhibit these proteins and treat cancer cells. However, platelet toxicity has restricted their progression into the clinical phase. In addition, we sought out to developed and investigate potential pH-responsive moieties as delivery carriers towards the selective targeting of solid tumours and to render this conjugate unavailable to platelets (platelets toxicity).