Identification of Small Ligands Targeting Breast Cancer by In Vivo Screening of Peptide Libraries in Breast Cancer Patients.

摘要

The purpose of this research is to develop methods of generating tumor specific small peptides that will bind to human cancers. The scope of this research is to construct peptide%displayed random peptide libraries as a source of peptide ligands that will target human cancers. An in vivo selection process will select ligands present in the library. Preclinical toxicity testing in a murine model is in the scope of this project and much of this work has been completed. The preclinical work in mice strongly supports the use of this technology in humans because the toxicity levels appear very low and because panning experiments have resulted in enrichment of peptide-phage clones that are likely tumor-specific. Phase I testing of detecting ligands in human cancer patients is within the scope of this research. Our preliminary data has led to approval by the FDA to proceed with human clinical study. We are prepared in this third year of grant support to safely enter patients into this clinical study. We will continue to develop methods related to evaluation of clones obtained from in vivo panning. We remain highly optimistic that peptides with significant affinity to tumors in breast cancer patients can be obtained.