Sythesis of anti-angiogenic drug conjugates against breast cancer

Angiogenesis, formation of new blood vessel, has a primary role in both local tumor growth and distant metastasis in breast cancer. By an anti-angiogenic therapy for breast cancer, this process can be inhibited. Different from conventional chemotherapy agents, selectivity of anti-angiogenic agents toward newly formed and disorganized blood vessels around the tumor is an attractive tool for reduced toxicity. Polymer-drug conjugates are designed to achieve improved drug targeting to the tumor, to reduce drug toxicity and to overcome the mechanisms of drug resistance. Aqueous solubility of a drug can be dramatically improved by conjugation to a water soluble polymer. The rate and duration of drug delivery can be custom designed to achieve the desired therapeutically effective concentration. Moreover, accumulation of these macromolecules only in the tumor tissue can be accomplished by ?enhanced permeability and retention effect?. In this thesis, we disclose the synthesis of novel poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate based copolymers containing drug units as side chains by free radical polymerization, analytical characterization and examination the effect of the prepared conjugates on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro.