Engineering Small-Molecule and Protein Drugs for Targeting Bone Tumors

Authors

Yixian Wang
Chenhang Wang
Meng Xia
Zeru Tian
Joseph Zhou
Julian Meyer Berger
Xiang H-F Zhang
Han Xiao

Language

English

Publication Date

5-1-2024

Journal

Molecular Therapy

DOI

10.1016/j.ymthe.2024.03.001

PMID

38449313

PMCID

PMC11081876

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

3-6-2024

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Bone cancer is common and severe. Both primary (e.g., osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma) and secondary (e.g., metastatic) bone cancers lead to significant health problems and death. Currently, treatments such as chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and radiation therapy are used to treat bone cancer, but they often only shrink or slow tumor growth and do not eliminate cancer completely. The bone microenvironment contributes unique signals that influence cancer growth, immunogenicity, and metastasis. Traditional cancer therapies have limited effectiveness due to off-target effects and poor distribution on bones. As a result, therapies with improved specificity and efficacy for treating bone tumors are highly needed. One of the most promising strategies involves the targeted delivery of pharmaceutical agents to the site of bone cancer by introduction of bone-targeting moieties, such as bisphosphonates or oligopeptides. These moieties have high affinities to the bone hydroxyapatite matrix, a structure found exclusively in skeletal tissue, and can enhance the targeting ability and efficacy of anticancer drugs when combating bone tumors. This review focuses on the engineering of small molecules and proteins with bone-targeting moieties for the treatment of bone tumors.

Keywords

Humans, Bone Neoplasms, Antineoplastic Agents, Animals, Diphosphonates, Drug Delivery Systems, Osteosarcoma, Sarcoma, Ewing, Molecular Targeted Therapy, Tumor Microenvironment, bone, bone-targeting, bisphosphonate, bone tumor, bone metastasis

Published Open-Access

yes

Recommended Citation

Wang, Yixian; Wang, Chenhang; Xia, Meng; et al., "Engineering Small-Molecule and Protein Drugs for Targeting Bone Tumors" (2024). Faculty and Staff Publications. 4902.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/baylor_docs/4902