Targeting Breast Cancer Vasculature
Abstract
The purpose of our project is to develop ways of reducing the toxic side effects that's limit the usefulness of many of the existing anti-cancer drugs. The approach is to develop a strategy for physically concentrating therapeutic agents in tumor tissue. Our strategy makes use of unique features of tumor vasculature. We screen libraries of peptides displayed on phage in vivo to profile the specialization of breast cancer vasculature. We have isolated homing peptides that specifically recognize blood or lymphatic vessels in breast cancer and its metastases, and have even obtained peptides that specifically recognize the vessels in pre-malignant breast lesions. In addition, we have used methods based on phage library screening to discover a novel molecule that is involved in breast cancer metastasis The compounds developed in this work can be used to design new therapies that specifically target breast cancer. The vascular receptors for the homing peptides, some of which we have identified, represent novel "druggable" targets for the development of anti-cancer agents.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA450247
Entities
People
- Erkki Ruoslahti
Organizations
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute