title: Combination therapy: opportunities and challenges for polymer-drug conjugates as anticancer nanomedicines.
abstract: The discovery of new molecular targets and the subsequent development of novel anticancer agents are opening new possibilities for drug combination therapy as anticancer treatment. Polymer-drug conjugates are well established for the delivery of a single therapeutic agent, but only in very recent years their use has been extended to the delivery of multi-agent therapy. These early studies revealed the therapeutic potential of this application but raised new challenges (namely, drug loading and drugs ratio, characterisation, and development of suitable carriers) that need to be addressed for a successful optimisation of the system towards clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Reading, Whiteknights PO BOX 224 Reading RGD6 6AD Berkshire, UK. f.greco@rdg.ac.uk
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.forename: María J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Vicent
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry; D004338:Drug Combinations; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D050997:Nanomedicine; D053758:Nanoparticles; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004337:Drug Carriers; D004338:Drug Combinations; D011108:Polymers