Low drug delivery efficiency and drug resistance from highly heterogeneous cancer cells and tumor microenvironment represent major challenges in clinical oncology. Growth factor receptor, IGF-1R, is overexpressed in both human tumor cells and tumor associated stromal cells. The level of IGF-1R expression is further up-regulated in drug resistant tumor cells. We have developed IGF-1R targeted ma...

Peptide functionalized hyaluronic acid (HACF) cross-linked by cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]), a new class of drug-delivery reservoirs, is used to enable improved drug bioavailability for glioblastoma tumors in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. The mechanical and viscoelastic properties native human mouse tissues are measured over 8 h via oscillatory rheology under physiological conditions. Treat...

Despite all recent advances in malignant glioma research, only modest progress has been achieved in improving patient prognosis and quality of life. Such a clinical scenario underscores the importance of investing in new therapeutic approaches that, when combined with conventional therapies, are able to effectively eradicate glioma infiltration and target distant tumor foci. Nanoparticle-loaded...

To overcome the drawback of drug non-selectivity in traditional chemotherapy, the construction of multifunctional targeting drug delivery systems is one of the most effective and prevailing approaches. The intratumoral anti-angiogenesis and the tumor cell-killing are two basic approaches in fighting tumors. Herein we report a novel tumor vascular-targeting multidrug delivery system using mesopo...

Brain tumor microvessels/capillaries limit drug delivery to tumors by forming a blood-brain tumor barrier (BTB). The BTB overexpresses ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channels that are barely detectable in normal brain capillaries, and which were targeted for BTB permeability modulation. In a rat brain tumor model, we infused minoxidil sulfate (MS), a selective K(ATP) channel activator, to obt...

We describe a new drug delivery strategy that uses genetically engineered endothelial cells (ECs) to deliver drugs to tumor cells by apoptosis. Immortalized ECs were genetically engineered to express a flk-1:fas fusion protein. When exposed to the flk-1 ligand, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is overexpressed by many tumors, these cells underwent extensive apoptosis. These apop...

Several thermal-therapy strategies such as thermal ablation, hyperthermia-triggered drug delivery from temperature-sensitive liposomes (TSLs), and combinations of the above were investigated in a rhabdomyosarcoma rat tumor model (n = 113). Magnetic resonance-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (MR-HIFU) was used as a noninvasive heating device with precise temperature control for image-gui...

Low toxicity and high efficacy are the key factors influencing the real-world clinical applications of nanomaterial-assisted drug delivery. In this study, novel hollow carbon spheres (HCSs) with narrow size distribution were developed. In addition to demonstrating their ease of synthesis for large-scale production, we also demonstrated in vitro that the HCSs possessed high drug-loading capacity...

The distribution of drugs within solid tumors presents a long-standing barrier for efficient cancer therapies. Tumors are highly resistant to diffusion, and the lack of blood and lymphatic flows suppresses convection. Prolonged, continuous intratumoral drug delivery from a miniature drug source offers an alternative to both systemic delivery and intratumoral injection. Presented here is a model...