Ligand-Mediated Targeting: An Update

Several antibody therapeutics have received clinical approval and, in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer, they have been shown to have additive or synergistic effects with conventional anticancer drug therapy. Ligand-targeted therapeutics have received considerable attention in recent years (1) and several ligand-targeted therapeutics have received clinical approval (Table 1) Many nanoparticle delivery systems for anticancer drugs (primarily liposomal to date) have also entered the clinic and have been shown to have improved anticancer effects over conventional chemotherapeutic drugs due to their ability to improve the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of their associated drugs (2).