Thermally targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics and anti-cancer peptides by elastin-like polypeptide

Abstract

Current chemotherapy treatment of solid tumors is limited due to a lack of specific delivery of the drugs to the tumor, leading to systemic toxicity. Therefore, it is necessary to develop targeted cancer therapies and tumor-targeted drug carriers. The authors review the development of elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) as a potential carrier for thermally targeted delivery of therapeutics. The authors searched Medline for articles concerning the application of ELP as a drug delivery vector for small molecule drugs and therapeutic peptides. ELP has been demonstrated to be a promising thermally targeted carrier. Further examination of the in vivo biodistribution and efficacy will provide the necessary data to advance ELP technology toward the ultimate goal of human therapeutics.

Keywords::

• c-Myc
• doxorubicin
• elastin-like polypeptide
• p21
• therapeutic peptides
• thermal targeting

Notes