Polymeric antitumor agents

Besides the possible use of such stabilized liposomes as drug carriers (10) another application could be their use as models for the ceTT-cell interaction and as polymeric antitumor agents on a cellular level (11) i.e. trying to mimic the body defense against tumor cells (17J. We hope that this article which in many terms is more a pre- than a review will help to stimulate the discussions on polymeric antitumor agents not only on the al-... 

Gros, L., Ringsdorf, H., and Scupp, H., Polymeric antitumor agents on a molecular and on a cellular level Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 20, 305, 1981. 

Apart from the possible use of polymerized vesicles as stable models for biomembranes (Sect. 4) there may be a variety of different applications. Polymerized surfactant vesicles have been proposed to act as antitumor agents on a cellular level33 in analogy to the action of the immune system of mammals against tumor cells 85). Polymerized vesicles open the door to chemical membrane dissymmetry 22) which in turn, may lead to enhanced utility in photochemical energy transfer84 (solar energy conversion, artificial photosynthesis). The utilization of unpolymerized lipo-... 

Matsumura Y, Yokoyama M, Kataoka K, Okano T, Sakurai Y, Kawaguchi T, Kakizoe T. Reduction of the adverse effects of an antitumor agent, KRN 5500 by incorporation of the drug into polymeric micelles. Jap J Cancer Res 1999 90 122-128. 

Couweur, R, Grislain, L., Lenaerts, V., Brassenr, R, Guiot, R. and Biernacki, A. (1986) Biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles as drug carrier for antitumor agents. In Polymeric nanoparticles and microspheres (Guiot R. and Couweiir R, Eds.). CRCPress, Boca Raton, Florida, pp. 27—93. 

E.M. Hodnett, N. Purdie, W.J. Dunn, and J.S. Harger, Synthesis and evaluation of salts of ethylene-maleic acid copolymers as antitumor agents,/. Med. Chem., 12,1118-1120,1969. E.M. Hodnett, and J. Tien Hai Tai, Polymeric anions and biological activities. Effect on intramuscular and intraperitoneal Walker carcinosarcoma 256 on the rat, /. Med. Chem., 17, 1335-1337, 1974. 

Bob A. Howell, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Director of the Center for Applications in Polymer Science at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. His research interests include the development of nontoxic, environmentally friendly flame retardants based on renewable biosources as well as new polymeric fuel-cell membranes, polymerization techniques, thermal methods of analysis, polymer-supported organoplatinum antitumor agents, and polymers from renewable sources. 

Matsumura, Y. et al. 1999. Reduction ofthe side effect of an antitumor agent, KRN5500, by incorporation ofthe drug into polymeric micelles. Jpn J Cancer Res. 90 122-128. 

The MTT assay was initially developed as a quantitative assay for cell survival and proliferation, not as an in vitro assay for chemosensitivity testing. Further study was required to ascertain if the method accurately predicted the in vivo antitumor activities of anticancer agents. Shimoyama et al. [189] studied the predictability of the MTT assay with respect to a clonogenic assay (Sect. 4.1.1.3.) and showed excellent reproducibility and a close correlation to the in vivo predictability rate of the clonogenic assay. Another study [190] also showed that the MTT assay closely approximated (90%) the clinical activity of anticancer agents. Many authors have since utilized the MTT assay to determine the efficacy of polymeric anticancer drug conjugates. 

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