Abstract
The vitamin folic acid exhibits high affinity for the endocytosed, membrane-bound folate receptor. Conjugation of folic acid via its γ-carboxyl group to various macromolecules results in binding to, and endocytosis into, cells expressing the folate receptor. The folate receptor is overexpressed on a wide range of cancers, therefore fdic acid has been investigated as a targeting ligand for the specific delivery of therapeutic compounds to cancer cells. This review will introduce folate-targeting of macromolecules to cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, and discuss the accumulation of such compounds in non-target tissues in vivo. Folate-targeting of non-viral DNA vectors in vitro and in vivo will be discussed in detail, with particular emphasis on the recent advances in this field.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 182-187 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Current Opinion in Molecular Therapeutics |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 2000 |
Keywords
- Cancer
- DNA
- Folate receptor
- Targeting
- Vector
