Therapeutic cancer targeting peptides

Antitumor monoclonal antibodies have shown clinical promise as cancer cell surface targeting agents. More tumor targeting antibodies are likely to be approved by the FDA in the next few years. However, there are two major limitations in antibody‐targeted therapy: large size and nonspecific uptake of the antibody molecules by the liver and the reticuloendothelial system. These result in poor tumor penetration of antibody pharmaceuticals and dose‐limiting toxicity to the liver and bone marrow. Peptides are excellent alternative targeting agents for human cancers, and they may alleviate some of the problems with antibody targeting. In the last decade, several investigators have successfully used combinatorial library methods to discover cell surface binding peptides that may be useful for cancer targeting. The phage‐display library technique and the “one‐bead one‐compound” combinatorial library method are the two approaches that have been used. Cancer cell surface receptors or endothelial cell surface receptors of the neovasculature are the two popular therapeutic targets for cancer. Results from preclinical studies with some peptides are encouraging in their targeting potential. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 66: 184–199, 2002