PEPTIDES SELECTIVELY HOMING TO HEART VASCULATURE AND RELATED CONJUGATES AND METHODS

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide molecules which home to heart vasculature with high selectivity and which can be useful in the form of conjugates for selectively targeting a systemically administered therapeutic or imaging agent to the heart vasculature.SOLUTION: The present invention provides a variety of isolated peptides and peptidomimetics, which can be useful, for example, in constructing the conjugates, or in unconjugated form if the peptide itself has biological activity, as a therapeutic for treating any of a variety of cardiovascular diseases. Thus, the present invention provides an isolated peptide or peptidomimetic which has a length of less than 60 residues and includes the amino acid sequence CRPPR or a peptidomimetic thereof. The invention further provides an isolated peptide or peptidomimetic which has a length of less than 60 residues and includes the amino acid sequence CARPAR or a peptidomimetic thereof, or amino acid sequence CPKRPR or a peptidomimetic thereof.