Healthcare

Biography

Biography: Keerti Jain

Abstract

Formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing blood vessels i.e. angiogenesis play crucial role in the metastasis and growth of tumor, and hence inhibition of neo-vascularization could be a lucrative approach in the successful treatment of cancer. Numerous preclinical investigational studies showed that the combined treatment of cancer with angiogenesis and chemotherapy/radiotherapy could result in improved outcomes as compared to chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. In this regard we could postulate that the designing of a nano-material with anti-angiogenic activity and potential to deliver anticancer drug selectively to cancer cells may emerge as a promising therapeutic approach for treatment of cancer. Dendrimers represent a well defined three-dimensional macromolecular structure synthesized in a step-wise controlled manner with nearly mono-disperse polymeric architecture. Some dendrimer molecules including poly-L-lysine (PLL) dendrimers, poly-arginine dendrimers with glycine core, poly(propylene imine) (PPI) dendrimers with surface arginine groups have shown intrinsic anti-angiogenic activity in previous reports including from our laboratory. Particularly PLL dendrimers have been investigated thoroughly for anti-angiogenic activity and showed reduced vascularization, significant reduction in apoptosis/necrosis of tumor tissue and moderate regression effect on tumor growth equivalent to commercially available antiangiogenic agent, Avastin (anti-VEGF antibody bevacizumab) without significant toxic effect on non-cancerous tissues. In this presentation I will enlighten the progress made in design of anti-angiogenic dendrimers, dendrimers as nano-carrier for delivery of anticancer drugs and future possibilities to improve treatment strategies for cancer via two pronged attack on cancer with anti-angiogenic dendrimers and chemotherapeutic agents including reports from our laboratory and other laboratories as well.