Covalent modification of therapeutic compounds is a clinically proven strategy to devise prodrugs with enhanced treatment efficacies. This prodrug strategy relies on the modified drugs that possess advantageous pharmacokinetic properties and administration routes over their parent drug. Self-assembling prodrugs represent an emerging class of therapeutic agents capable of spontaneously associating into well-defined supramolecular nanostructures in aqueous solutions. The self-assembly of prodrugs expands the functional space of conventional prodrug design, affording a possible pathway to more effective therapies as the assembled nanostructure possesses distinct physicochemical properties and interaction potentials that can be tailored to specific administration routes and disease treatment. In this review, we will discuss the various types of self-assembling prodrugs in development, providing an overview of the methods used to control their structure and function and, ultimately, our perspective on their current and future potential.

中文翻译：

---

自组装前药

治疗化合物的共价修饰是设计具有增强治疗效果的前药的临床验证策略。该前药策略依赖于修饰的药物，该修饰的药物具有优于其母体药物的药代动力学特性和给药途径。自组装前药代表了一类新兴的治疗剂，能够自发地与水溶液中定义明确的超分子纳米结构缔合。前药的自组装扩展了常规前药设计的功能空间，为组装更有效的疗法提供了可能的途径，因为组装后的纳米结构具有独特的理化特性和相互作用潜能，可以针对特定的给药途径和疾病治疗进行调整。在这篇评论中，