Self-assembling peptides for anticancer drug delivery

在发达国家，癌症是仅次于心脏病的第二大死因，仅在加拿大每年就造成7万多人死亡。目前约有50%的癌症患者可以治愈，其中化疗有助于治愈10-15%的患者。所有抗癌药物的临床使用都需要权衡其益处和不良副作用。为了克服这一瓶颈，有针对性的给药一直在大力追求。最近出现了一种新的有效的递送策略，即肽（小蛋白质）用于药物递送系统的设计。在这个应用中，我们建议开发有效的治疗递送技术，使用一类新发现的肽——离子互补、两亲性、自组装肽。这些肽不仅具有特定的药物靶向功能，而且从其独特的分子结构中获得了类似表面活性剂的特性，从而具有自组装能力

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the developed countries only after heart disease, causing over 70,000 fatalities each year in Canada alone. Presently about 50% cancer patients can be cured, with chemotherapy contributing to cure in 10-15% of the patients. All clinical use of the anticancer drugs involves weighing of benefits against unwanted side-effects. To overcome this bottleneck, targeted drug delivery has been heavily pursued. A new and effective delivery strategy has recently emerged when peptides (small proteins) are used in the design of drug delivery systems. In this application, we propose to develop effective therapeutic delivery technologies using a newly-discovered class of peptides--ionic-complementary, amphiphilic, self-assembling peptides. These peptides not only possess specific drug targeting functions but also derive surfactant-like characteristics, and hence self-assembly capability, from their unique molecular