Peptide-Targeted Drug Delivery to Breast Tumors
Abstract
Macromolecular drug carriers provide one of the most promising approaches to improve delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic drugs to cancer cells. A very significant achievement in this area relates to the recent development of "long-circulating" macromolecular and colloidal preparations (polymers, micelles, liposomes, etc.). Clearance of these compounds from the blood is very slow and, as a consequence, they circulate long enough to extravasate into tumors via "leaky" endothelium, and accumulate at these sites as a result of non-specific tissue binding and spontaneous endocytosis. Although long circulating drug carriers do accumulate in solid tumors, they do not specifically bind cancer cells. Also, they can partially return to the blood stream by a reverse of the extravasation process through the leaky endothelium. To overcome these limitations, substantial improvements could be achieved by the association of long-circulating drug carriers with "vector molecules" capable of binding specifically to cancer cells. Our work has been based on the use of a genetic selection/screening technique to identify peptides that selectively recognize breast cancer cells.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA388569
Entities
People
- Gian P. Dotto
Organizations
- Massachusetts General Hospital