Targeting of Drugs

Successful drug use in biology and medicine is often prejudiced by the failure of drugs that are otherwise active in vitro to act as efficiently in vivo. This is because in the living animal drugs must, as a rule, bypass or traverse organs, membranes, cells and molecules that stand between the site of administration and the site of action. In practice, however, drugs can be toxic to normal tissues, have limited or no access to the target and be prematurely excreted or inactivated. There is now growing optimism that such problems may be resolved by the use of carrier systems that will not only protect the non-target environment from the drugs they carry but also deliver them to where they are needed or facilitate their release there. Carrier systems presently under investigation include antibodies, glycoproteins, cells, reconstituted viruses and liposomes. Recent advances in the chemistry of cell receptor and receptor-recognising molecules, llnmunology, and natural and artificial membranes have revealed a multitude of ways in which such carrier systems can be modified or improved upon.

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Macromolecular Carriers.- Hepatocyte Targeting of Antiviral Drugs Coupled to Galactosyl-Terminating Glycoproteins.- Targeting of Antitumour and Antiprotozoal Drugs by Covalent Linkage to Protein Carriers.- Antibodies and Dextran as Anti-Tumour Drug Carriers.- Targeting of Radionuclides and Drugs for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer.- Antibody-Toxin Conjugates as Potential Therapeutic Agents.- Selectivity in Cancer Chemotherapy.- Particulate and Cellular Carriers.- Drug Conjugates of Polymeric Microspheres as Tools in Cell Biology.- Reconstituted Sendai Virus Envelopes as a Vehicle for the Introduction of Soluble Macromolecules and Membrane Components into Animal Cells.- Erthrocytes as Carriers for Recombinant Cloned DNA.- Liposomal Carriers.- Targeting of Liposomes: Study of Influencing Factors.- Antibody-Mediated Targeting of Liposomes.- Delivery of Drugs in Temperature-Sensitive Liposomes.- Hyperthermia-Mediated Targeting of Liposomes-Associated Anti-Neoplastic Drugs.- Liposomes: Further Considerations of Their Possible Role as Carriers of Therapeutic Agents.- Therapeutic Efficacy of Cytosine Arabinoside Trapped In Liposomes.- Stimulation of Host Response against Metastatic Tumours by Liposome-Encapsulated Immunomodulators.- Liposomes and the Reticuloendothelial System: Interactions of Liposomes with Macrophages and Behaviour of Liposomes in Vivo.- Immunoadjuvant Properties of Liposomes.- Adjuvant Effect of Liposome Presentation of Soluble Tumour-Associated Antigen.- Therapeutic Potential of Liposomes as Carriers in Leishmaniasis, Malaria and Vaccines.- Interaction of Liposomes with Cells: Model Studies.- Development of Liposomes as an Efficient Carrier System: New Methodology for Cell Targeting and Intracellular Delivery of Drugs and DNA.- Liposome-Mediated DNA Transfer in Eukaryotic Cells: Gene Uptake and Expressing in the Host Cell.- Contributors.