The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7396 p436
15 April 2006

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Delivery system targets prostate cancer cells

Docetaxel, encapsulated within a biodegradable polymer and coated with DNA and RNA aptamers, can be targeted to prostate cancer cells, research suggests. The aptamers recognise specific cell surface receptors — in this case, the prostate specific membrane antigen.

In a mouse-model, a single intra-tumour injection of the aptamer-coated particles produced complete tumour regression in five of seven mice, with all of the mice surviving the 109-day study period. In the seven mice treated with particles without aptamers, complete tumour regression was seen in two mice and four mice survived. But when un-encapsulated docetaxel was injected into the tumours of seven mice, only one survived (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2006;103:6315).