Ligand-based vascular targeting of disease.

This review illustrates the basic principles of ligand-based vascular targeting and presents some of the most advanced results obtained in this field, not only in terms of biopharmaceuticals, which are currently being investigated in clinical and preclinical studies, but also in terms of enabling technologies that facilitate target and ligand discovery. Whereas most of the vascular targeting research activities have so far concentrated on tumoral angiogenesis, the development of non-oncological applications has recently gained momentum and is likely to become an important area of modern pharmaceutical research.