Peptide delivers medicines directly into tumor | Knoxville Times

Peptide delivers medicines directly into tumor

Knoxville Times (ANI) Tuesday 8th December, 2009

Washington, Dec 4 : A new American study has identified a peptide that breaks through cancerous tumours and can deliver diagnostic particles and medicines to them.

The study was conducted by researchers at Burnham Institute for Medical Research, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Erkki Ruoslahti, lead researcher and distinguished Burnham professor at UCSB, said: "This peptide has extraordinary tumor-penetrating properties, and I hope that it will make possible substantial improvements in cancer treatment.

"In our animal studies, the iRGD peptide has increased the efficacy of a number of anti-cancer drugs without increasing their side effects. If these animal experiments translate into human cancers, we would be able to treat cancer more effectively than before, while greatly reducing the side effects the patient would suffer."

The study has appeared in the journal Cancer Cell.