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Turning Stealth Liposomes Into Cationic Liposomes For Anticancer Drug Delivery, Vijay Gyanani

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Targeting the anticancer agents selectively to cancer cells is desirable to improve the efficacy and to reduce the side effects of anticancer therapy. Previously reported passive tumor targeting by PEGylated liposomes (stealth liposomes) have resulted in their higher tumor accumulation. However their interaction with cancer cells has been minimal due to the steric hindrance of the PEG coating. This dissertation reports two approaches to enhance the interaction of stealth liposomes with cancer cells. First, we designed a lipid-hydrazone-PEG conjugate that removes the PEG coating at acidic pH as in the tumor interstitium. However, such a conjugate was highly unstable on …