Polymer carriers for anticancer drugs targeted to EGF receptor.

A novel actively targeted polymer carrier for anticancer drugs based on an N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide copolymer (PHPMA) is proposed. An oligopeptide sequence GE7, attached to the polymer, is a specific ligand for the EGF receptor overexpressed on most tumor cells. Co-attachment of selected chemotherapeutics will therefore lead to formation of tumor-specific polymer therapeutics, further enhanced by the EPR effect. FACS measurements prove elevated binding activity of the fluorescently labeled PHPMA/GE7 conjugate in EGFR-rich cells (FaDu, MCF-7), compared to conjugates of scrambled peptides. Cell lines with low EGFR level (SW620, B16F10) bind the GE7 conjugate significantly less.