Contemporary nano-architectured drugs and leads for ανβ3 integrin-based chemotherapy: Rationale and retrospect

Abstract

Abstract The integrins belong to the cell-surface polypeptide family and are the mediating partners among the cells, and extracellular matrix (ECM). They are also involved in the biological processes of cell migration, wound healing, blood clotting, immunological response generation, tissue morphogenesis, leucocyte reticulations, and angiogenesis and are therefore very relevant in stem cell technology and are useful as biomarkers, diagnostic probes, and drug-target ligands. The ανβ3 (alpha-nu-beta3) integrin antagonists are an excellent target example for designing and developing newer drug candidates, drug leads and templates for various diseases, and physiological malfunctioning, including cancers. The current review examines the ανβ3 integrin structural features involved in the drug design and its antagonistic ligands and highlights the development of anti-ανβ3 integrin-antagonists as nano-architectural design-based nanomedicine, especially for cancer chemotherapy. The perspectival review discusses the ανβ3 integrin structure, mode of action, involved pathways, and the concepts utilized in nanomedicine design, and ligands related to integrins. It also covers the latest thyrointegrin approaches toward the development of anti-angiogenesis agents and entails the anti-angiogenesis approach to cancer growth inhibition through targeting by the anti-integrin ligands and related chemical entities. The current perspective on the nano-architectural design approach for the known anti-integrin compounds is also outlined.