| Cancer is the leading cause of death in the US and more than half a million people die from the disease each year. Even though chemotherapy provides one of the most powerful treatment options for cancer, there are still many disadvantages. Severe side effects including nausea, hair loss, pulmonary and cardiac toxicity can be caused by anticancer drugs. Compared to the conventional systemic introduction of these anticancer drugs, targeted drug delivery to the tumor tissues can significantly improve the efficacy of the anticancer drugs while minimizing the systemic toxicity. The objective of this work is to develop targeted DOXO delivery system to cancer cells. The overexpression of alphavbeta3 integrin receptors in angiogenic endothelial cells provides an attractive strategy for targeted drug/gene delivery to tumor vasculature. Therefore, we hypothesized that attachment of cRGD (cyclic Arg-Gly-Asp peptide) to DOXO delivery system can lead to the specific and effective delivery of therapeutic agent to the cancer cells. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modality was also introduced into this system by SPIO (superparamagnetic iron oxide) nanoparticles.; Results from this research will generate fundamental insights on the design of drug delivery systems for effective delivery of drugs and quantitative understanding of distribution of this drug delivery system to cancer cells. Tumor-targeted drug delivery will potentially revolutionize the chemotherapy of cancers. |
