Cancer Surgery
Open Access

Preclinical evaluation of the efficacy of peptide targeting chemotherapy for the breast and other cancers

In our laboratory we have demonstrated that tumor-specific peptide-targeted chemotherapy is superior to conventional chemotherapy for the treatment of cancers. By using a phage-displayed random peptide library we have identified three 12-mer peptides: L-peptide, SP-94- peptide and PC5-52- peptides which can bind to breast and different cancer cell lines to meet several criteria for targeted drug delivery into cancer cells. In vitro study, those three peptides can bind specifically to the most cancer cell lines and some biopsy specimens; the peptide-linked liposome containing fluorescent substance is capable of binding to and translocate across cell membranes; in vivo study, these three peptides are able to bind and accumulate in the xenograft in SCID mice, but not in the mouse organs. Those peptide-linked liposomes containing doxorubicin not only can cause marked cytotoxicity to cancer cells, but also suppress markedly the xenograft growth (suppress more than 80-88% tumor size) in SCID mice with minimal adverse effect.

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