Evaluation of Peptides and Peptide–Doxorubicin Conjugates Designed and Synthesized for Targeting Triple-Negative Breast Cancer via Cell-Surface Receptors

<p>A significant problem faced in oncology is the lack of chemotherapeutic agents that are tumor site-specific, resulting in reduced therapeutic efficacy and unintended infliction of harm to surrounding healthy tissues and cells that often lead to serious side effects. Current strategies being explored to circumvent this issue aim to refine delivery of chemotherapeutic agents specifically to tumor sites, which may be achieved via conjugation of these agents to biomarker-specific ligands. This forms the foundation of ligand-targeted drug delivery. Among different breast cancers, treatment of the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype has been particularly challenging, largely due to the absence of a well-defined biomarker to exploit for targeted drug delivery. This has substantially limited the number of effective TNBC treatment options, funneling down primarily to conventional chemotherapy, the long-standing standard of care. The scope of this dissertation covers the peptide–drug conjugate (PDC) therapeutic modality. The findings herein delineate novel ligands, targets, and PDCs for effectively targeting TNBC.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Pharmaceutical Sciences

Year

2026

Author dc:creator

• Yao, Shih-Jing (Jane)

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kamaljit Kaur
• Jennifer Totonchy
• Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi
• Madeline Dintzner

• Cancer Biology
• Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
• Oncology
• Other Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Pharmaceutics and Drug Design

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/pharmaceutical_sciences_dissertations/43

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.chapman.edu:pharmaceutical_sciences_dissertations-1044