Drug-encapsulating EGF-sensitive liposomes for EGF-overexpressing cancer therapies

'Smart' targeted drug carriers have long been sought after in the treatment of epidermal growth factor (EGF)-overexpressing cancers due to the potential advantages, relative to current clinical therapies (generally limited to surgery, radiation therapy, traditional chemotherapy, and EGF receptor inhibitors (EGFRIs)), of using such 'smart' targeted drug delivery systems. However, progress toward this goal has been challenged by the difficulty of creating a drug carrier that can autonomously detect and respond to tumor cells in the body. 'Smart' micron-size drug-encapsulating epidermal growth factor (EGF)-sensitive liposomes for EGF-overexpressing cancer therapies have been developed and studied. These drug-encapsulating liposomes remain inert until they are exposed to an abnormal concentration of EGF. As a drug delivery system, these drug-encapsulating liposomes could release pharmaceutical agents specifically in the immediate neighborhood of tumors overexpressing EGF, thereby maximizing the effective amount of drug received by the tumor while minimizing the effective systemic toxicity of the drug. Additionally, quantitative mathematical models were developed to characterize multiple critical rate processes (including drug leakage from drug-encapsulating liposomes and distribution of (drug-encapsulating) liposomes in blood vessels) associated i with (drug-encapsulating) liposomes in general.

Department dc:contributor.department

Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Wong, Albert, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Klavs F. Jensen and Robert S. Langer.

• Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/54210

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/54210