1   2   3   4   5   6

A significant fraction of breast cancers overexpress the ErbB2 receptor, which specifies poorer outcome but also provides an opportunity for targeted therapy. The mainstay of current breast cancer treatments are chemotherapeutic agents with substantial toxicity to normal tissues. Specifically targeting tumor cells would allow concentration of cytotoxic drugs in the tumor while reducing their side effects.

The ultimate goal of this research group is to generate ErbB2 receptor-targeted nanostructures to carry cytotoxic drugs, and test their efficacy as selective drug delivery vehicles against breast cancer cells in vitro and in an in vivo animal model.

Three platforms are being designed to target breast cancer cells: cylindrical supramolecular nanofibers, copolymer spherical micelles, and nanostructure-loaded liposome. The systems will be accessed in vitro to establish if they inhibit growth and induce apoptosis of ErbB2 overexpressing breast cancer cell lines.

Using in vivo mouse models the ability of the targeted therapeutic nanostructures to selectively localize to and inhibit the growth of implanted, ErbB2-positive nude mouse tumors will be determined. While this project focuses on breast cancer, the strategy would have broad applicability to other cancer therapies.