title: Recent advances in ligand targeted therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ligand targeted therapy (LTT) is a powerful pharmaceutical strategy to achieve selective drug delivery to pathological cells, for both therapeutic and diagnostic purposes, with the advantage of limited side effects and toxicity. This active drug targeting approach is based on the discovery that there are receptors overexpressed on pathological cells, compared to their expression in normal tissues.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this article is to review recently published data on LTT with applications, both in the field of cancer therapy and other diseases. Moreover, data on LTT exploiting receptors overexpressed at cytoplasmatic level are also reviewed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were deduced from Medline (PubMed) and SciFinder and their selections were made with preference to papers where the most relevant receptors were involved.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several groups have reported improved delivery of targeted nanocarriers, as compared to nontargeted ones, to pathological cells. LTT offers several advantages, but there are also limitations in the development of this strategy. Moreover, LTT have shown encouraging results in in vitro and in animal models in vivo; hence their clinical potential awaits investigation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recent studies highlight that the ligand density plays an important role in targeting efficacy. Furthermore, LTT applications in diseases different from cancer and those exploiting receptors overexpressed at cytoplasmatic level are growing.
authors.affiliation: Pharmaco-Chemistry Department, University of Bari, Bari, Italy. trapani@farmchim.uniba.it
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Trapani
authors.forename: Nunzio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Denora
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trapani
authors.forename: Valentino
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Laquintana
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear