A NOVEL TARGETED DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR CANCER TREATMENT AND DIAGNOSIS

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) or glioblastoma, is the most common and aggressive malignant primary brain tumor in humans. An effective treatment that increases patient survival would represent a significant advance inthe field, and provide a desperately needed new therapy for this deadly disease. EnduRx is focused on the development of new, targeted systems for cancer treatment. Our collaborators, at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (SBMRI), led by Prof.Ruoslahti, have developed an exciting new tumor targeted nanosystem for cancer therapy. This nanosystem has shown unprecedented anti- cancer activity in highly drug resistant/refractory mouse models of glioblastoma, which closely mimic the human disease.We have identified new homing peptides that can carry nanoparticles deep into the target tissue. Phase I of this application will test whether these new tissue penetrating, homing peptides can improve the efficacy of the nanosystem. Support of this Fa