Self-assembling peptides for anticancer drug delivery

癌症是发达国家仅次于心脏病的第二大死亡原因，仅在加拿大每年就造成7万多人死亡。目前，约50%的癌症患者可以治愈，化疗有助于治愈10-15%的患者。抗癌药物的所有临床使用都涉及权衡益处与不必要的副作用。为了克服这一瓶颈，已经大力追求靶向药物递送。当肽（小蛋白）被用于药物递送系统的设计时，最近出现了一种新的和有效的递送策略。在本申请中，我们提出使用新发现的一类肽--离子互补的、两亲的、自组装的肽来开发有效的治疗递送技术。这些肽不仅具有特异性的药物靶向功能，而且由于其独特的分子结构，还具有类似表面活性剂的特性，因此具有自组装能力。

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