THE ROLE OF POLYMER CONJUGATES IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CANCER

Polymer conjugates are currently entering routine clinical use as anti cancer agents, and they are under development as adjuncts to cancer ch emotherapy, for example, in the form of polymer-cytokine conjugates an d as imaging agents for use in both diagnosis and disease evaluation. Regulatory authority approval of styrene maleic anhydride-neocarzinost atin in Japan and poly(ethyleneglycol)-L-asparaginase in the United St ates, as well as the progression of N-(2-hydroxypropyl)-methacrylamide copolymer-doxorubicin into Phase II clinical trial, have confirmed th e practicalities of this approach, and indeed show that polymer conjug ates constitute a new class of cancer chemotherapy. In this article, t he basic rationale for design of polymeric anticancer agents is descri bed and recent progress in the field is reviewed.