Current Cancer Drug Targets - Volume 3, Issue 4, 2003

Aerosol delivery of drugs holds promise for a number of diseases. The large blood vessel network feeding the lungs make them accessible from the intravenous route, and the endothelium and lung parenchyma have been targeted intravenously for a number of drugs. However, the easy access of the lungs through the pulmonary airways has not been extensively utilized except for a few disease areas and drugs. The last few yea Read More

The lungs are common sites of involvement by primary and metastatic malignant disease. Patients with malignancies in the lung have limited treatment options and are usually not curable. Numerous investigators have studied the potential of delivering various therapeutic agents directly to the lungs and pulmonary lymphatics by nebulization. Most of the research involves the use of immunomodulatory strategies; a few ae Read More

Lung cancer is the largest and the most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The cure rate for lung cancer remains lowest among all malignancies. The discovery of new chemical agents with activity in first onset and recurrent disease is crucial for advancing treatment of patients with pulmonary tumors. Camptothecins are known as inhibitors of topoisomerase I, one of the key enzymes for DNA replication Read More

Pet dogs with naturally occurring cancers offer a novel opportunity for the study of both cancer biology and therapy. The following review will provide the rationale for the use of these spontaneous cancer models in translational research, particularly in the development of anticancer aerosols. A summary of work involving pet dogs with primary and metastatic cancers to the lung and the investigation of therapeutic ch Read More

The long-term survival of lung cancer patients treated with conventional therapies (surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy) remains poor and has changed little in decades. The need for novel approaches remains high and gene therapy holds promise in this area. A number of genes have been shown in vitro, in animal studies and most recently, in human clinical trials, to have antitumor actions. However, a number of Read More

Paclitaxel (PTX, Taxol) has revolutionized cancer treatment in the past decade and is recognized as one of the biggest advances in oncology medicine. In spite of the good clinical efficacy shown by PTX, there is still a growing need to achieve better safety and pharmacokinetic profile of PTX in patients. The standard delivery modalities of intravenous infusion result in multiple side effects, and targeting of the drug to speci Read More