胃癌肝高转移细胞结合肽的特异性鉴定

目的鉴定选择性噬菌体阳性克隆是否可与胃癌肝高转移细胞-XGC9811-L特异性结合。方法利用竞争结合试验检测噬菌体阳性克隆与XGC9811-L细胞的结合效率。竞争抑制实验确定阳性噬菌体与靶细胞的结合性是否通过外源呈现肽发挥作用。细胞结合ELI-1SA实验和免疫荧光技术鉴定phage20与靶细胞XGC9811-L结合的特异性。结果在8个阳性克隆中，phage20与XGC9811-L细胞的结合效率最高，达100％，是原噬菌体肽库的50倍，随着外源呈现肽浓度的增加，phage20与靶细胞的结合力随之减弱。phage20可与XGC9811-L特异结合，并可内化入细胞。结论在8个噬菌体阳性克隆中，phage20与XGC9811-L细胞具有高度结合力，并呈现出明显的细胞特异性。     

Screening and identification of a renal carcinoma specific peptide from a phage display peptide library

Background

Specific peptide ligands to cell surface receptors have been extensively used in tumor research and clinical applications. Phage display technology is a powerful tool for the isolation of cell-specific peptide ligands. To screen and identify novel markers for renal cell carcinoma, we evaluated a peptide that had been identified by phage display technology.

Methods

A renal carcinoma cell line A498 and a normal renal cell line HK-2 were used to carry out subtractive screening in vitro with a phage display peptide library. After three rounds of panning, there was an obvious enrichment for the phages specifically binding to the A498 cells, and the output/input ratio of phages increased about 100 fold. A group of peptides capable of binding specifically to the renal carcinoma cells were obtained, and the affinity of these peptides to the targeting cells and tissues was studied.

Results

Through a cell-based ELISA, immunocytochemical staining, immunohistochemical staining, and immunofluorescence, the Phage ZT-2 and synthetic peptide ZT-2 were shown to specifically bind to the tumor cell surfaces of A498 and incision specimens, but not to normal renal tissue samples.

Conclusion

A peptide ZT-2, which binds specifically to the renal carcinoma cell line A498 was selected from phage display peptide libraries. Therefore, it provides a potential tool for early diagnosis of renal carcinoma or targeted drug delivery in chemotherapy.     

In Vivo Selection of Phage Sequences and Characterization of Peptide-specific Binding to Breast Cancer Cells

OBJECTIVE To screen specific polypeptide target binding to breast cancer xenogra s in vivo from a phage-displayed peptide library in order to provide peptide sequences for breast cancer tumor-targeting diagnosis and therapy. METHODS A mouse model for carrying breast cancer xenografts was established using Tientsin Albinao II mice(TA II).A 12-peptide library was biopanned through 4 rounds. Phages were recovered and titrated from tumor xenografts and control tissue(liver).The distribution of phages was detected by immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS Phage homing to breast cancer was enriched through 4 rounds of biopanning,being 14-fold of that recovered from liver tissue.A peptide sequence,ASANPFPTKALL was characterized by randomly picked-up clones which appeared most frequently. Immunohistochemical staining revealed phage localization in cancer xenografts 40 min after injection of the enriched phages. When a specific phage was tested individually,the phage reclaimed from breast cancer xenografts was 14 times as those from control tissues. CONCLUSION Tumor-specific homing peptides may provide an effective tool for breast cancer target therapy.The in vivo phage display selection technique employed in this study was feasible and applicable to screening peptides that home to breast cells.     

乳腺癌干细胞富集及其特异性多肽的筛选

目的：无血清培养法富集乳腺癌干细胞（breast cancer stem cell,BCSC）并采用噬菌体展示技术,筛选能特异性结合乳腺癌干细胞的噬菌体多肽。方法：无血清培养法富集乳腺癌MDA—MB-231细胞株中干细胞并以此为靶标,以hs578bst人正常乳腺细胞及普通培养的MDA—MB-231细胞为减性筛选细胞,对噬菌体随机肽库进行双重减性筛选,选取富集后的阳性噬菌体单克隆,ELISA及DAB染色鉴定阳性噬菌体特异性并测序。结果：经过3轮筛选,噬菌体得到约500倍的富集,随机挑选10株单克隆噬菌体。ELISA显示,6号噬菌体单克隆对乳腺癌干细胞的亲和力是对照的6．14倍;DAB鉴定亦显示,其对乳腺癌干细胞的特异性及亲和力最高,对阳性噬菌体DNA测序翻译得到十二肽氨基酸为GYSASRsTIPGK。结论：通过干细胞富集及噬菌体展示技术,成功筛选出能够特异性结合乳腺癌干细胞的特异性噬菌体多肽,为乳腺癌的干细胞靶向治疗和深入研究奠定基础。     

Selection of tumor-targeting agents on freshly excised human breast tumors using a phage display library

The selective delivery of therapeutic agents to tumor site without harming rest of the body is a major challenge in clinical oncology today. Phage display approach has been used for searching ligands for cell-surface macromolecules on cancer cells so that they can be employed as drug targeting agents. Although basic protocols for biopanning cells are available, they are not as such suitable for screening highly complex and diverse target as whole tumor. Present study is an attempt to select peptide ligands specific to whole tumors. The cells from freshly collected human breast tumors were biopanned with phage displayed disulfide-constrained random heptapeptide library, following subtraction on normal human breast cells. Comparative analysis of amino acid frequencies in tumor-selected peptides and in random peptides from unselected library showed that selection was not random. The binding assessment of tumor-selected clones, using highly sensitive chemiluminescence ELISA, demonstrated that 47-75% of selected clones, depending on a tumor, bound to tumor cells they were panned on. Furthermore, several clones bound exclusively or preferentially to tumor cells in comparison to normal breast cells. It was interesting to note that insert sequences of tumor-binding clones from different tumors shared significant motifs. It shows the possibility of identifying ligands that may bind to tumor-specific targets common in certain tumors. The results of this investigation on seven human breast tumors demonstrated that, using procedures developed in the present study, whole tumors can be panned successfully with phage displayed library and tumor-binding ligands can be identified rapidly in high throughput manner. This is an important enabling step in identifying lead molecules for developing novel, specific, and effective agents that can be used for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.     

Tumor cell-targeting by phage-displayed peptides

We isolated cancer cell-specific phages by subtracting and selecting complex peptide display phage libraries on cultured human cancer cells. The best candidate was selected by performing three rounds of subtraction before each of five selections on the human colorectal WiDr cell line. The phage showed more than 1000-fold higher binding efficiency for WiDr cells when compared to five other human cancer cell lines, including two of colorectal origin, and when compared to wild-type M13 phage. Fifty-fold higher binding efficiency was also seen for a human breast cancer cell line. We show that the WiDr cell binding of the selected phage was efficiently competed by the synthetic peptide HEWSYLAPYPWF, predicted from the phage sequence. This confirms that the specificity of the peptide is independent of the display by the phage coat proteins. The identified peptide may target biomarkers linked to colorectal cancer, and thus be useful for designing gene transfer vectors as well as diagnostic and prognostic tools for this disease.     

乳腺癌干细胞新型多肽标志物的筛选

目的:从噬菌体随机十二肽库中筛选出能够与乳腺癌干细胞(breast cancer stem cell,BCSC)特异性结合的噬菌体,筛选后提取多肽以研究其与BCSC的亲和力和特异性。方法:通过"无血清-有血清"交替培养法培养人乳腺癌MCF7和MDA-MB-231细胞系,以求最大化富集BCSC,将hs578bst正常人乳腺细胞和普通培养的乳腺癌细胞用作减性筛选细胞,筛选噬菌体随机肽库;然后根据筛选结果选取阳性噬菌体进行单克隆扩增并测序,得到测序结果后依据合成多肽,标记以FITC;最后,建立乳腺癌动物模型,并在体外观察合成多肽与BCSC结合的特异性。结果:经过3轮筛选,噬菌体富集约200倍;随机选出10株单克隆噬菌体,与BCSC共同培养,其中与MCF7和MDA-MB-231乳腺癌干细胞阳性结合的噬菌体数目分别为6株和8株;分别从中选取1个阳性噬菌体进行测序,合成多肽后分别命名为A3和B8;多肽A3特异性结合MCF7乳腺癌干细胞,同时多肽B8特异结合MDA-MB-231乳腺癌干细胞。结论:噬菌体随机肽库可成功筛选出能够特异性结合BCSC的多肽,为BCSC的靶向治疗和进一步研究奠定了理论基础。     

Isolation of lung tumor specific peptides from a random peptide library: generation of diagnostic and cell-targeting reagents

Discovery of ligands specific to receptor(s) on a surface of a cancer cell could impact clinical issues including functional diagnosis and cell-specific drug delivery. Using a phage display approach, we have isolated 20-mer peptide ligands that bind to 3 different human lung tumor cell lines, NCI-H1299, NCI-H2009, and A549. The panning protocol is unbiased with no selection pressure towards binding a particular cellular receptor. The isolated phage bind to their target cells 24-300 times better than a control phage. Furthermore, the isolated peptides display remarkable cell-specificities and are able to discriminate between normal and cancerous cells as well as different lung tumor cells. The cell-specificities are not coincident with tumor classes indicating that the peptides are able to recognize cell-surface features that are not represented within the classification of tumor type. The isolated peptides are functional outside of the context of the phage and multimerization of the peptide increases its affinity for its given cell type, thus expanding their utility in clinical situations.     

Identification of oligopeptides binding to peritoneal tumors of gastric cancer

This is a report of in vivo intraperitoneal biopanning, and we successfully identified a novel peptide to target the multiple peritoneal tumors of gastric cancer. A phage display library was injected directly into the abdominal cavity of mice bearing peritoneal tumors of human gastric cancer, and phages associated with the tumors were subsequently reclaimed from isolated samples. The tumor-associated phages were amplified and the biopanning cycle was repeated five times to enrich for high affinity tumor-selective binding peptides. Finally, a tri-peptide motif, KLP, which showed homology with laminin 5 (a ligand for alpha3beta1 integrin), was identified as a binding peptide for peritoneal tumors of gastric cancer. Phage clones displaying the sequence KLP showed 64-fold higher binding to peritoneal tumors than control phage and were preferentially distributed in tumors rather than in normal organs after intraperitoneal injection into mice. In addition, the KLP phages were more likely to bind to cancer cells in malignant ascites derived from a patient with recurrent gastric cancer. Synthesized peptide containing the motif KLP (SWKLPPS) also showed a strong binding activity to peritoneal tumors without cancer growth effect. Liposomes conjugated with SWKLPPS peptide appeared significantly more often in tumors than control liposomes after intraperitoneal injection into mice. Furthermore, modification of liposomes with SWKLPPS peptide enhanced the antitumor activity of adriamycin on gastric cancer cells. The peptide motif KLP seems a potential targeting ligand for the treatment of peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer.     

Identification of a high affinity TAG-72 binding peptide by phage display selection

Purpose

Phage display was used to select novel peptides that specifically bind the TAG-72 antigen and with properties suitable for imaging TAG-72 positive cancers.

Results

After three rounds of selection against TAG-72 and using two different elution conditions including a long elution, the consensus sequences FRE RCD KHP QKC TKF L and DPR HCQ KRV LPC PAW L were expressed on phages G3-15 and T3-15 respectively. ELISA, fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis and fluorescence microscopy provided evidence that both phages specifically bound TAG-72 in vitro. Both peptides are stable in 37°C serum. By a cell binding competition assay, the IC₅₀ for T3-15 was measured as 0.29 nM and therefore 36-fold higher affinity than G3-15 at 10.32 nM. The biodistribution in mice carrying LS-174T tumors in one thigh were similar for both ^99mTc-peptides at 30 min, but at 90 min the ^99mTc-T3-15 peptide accumulated almost three times higher in the tumor. The SPECT/CT images were consistent with the biodistribution results.

Procedures

The f88-4/Cys6 phage library and two different elution conditions were used to identify two new higher affinity binding peptides for the TAG-72 antigen. One, was a single brief elution with pH 2.2 glycine buffer and the second began with the glycine elution but was followed with a longer elution with Tris buffered saline (TBS) at pH 7.4. The phages that bound TAG-72 were evaluated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis using TAG-72 positive LS-174T cells and confirmed by immunofluorescence imaging. The consensus peptides displayed on the selected phages were synthesized and conjugated with NHS-MAG3 for radiolabeling with ^99mTc. The IC₅₀ for TAG-72 binding was evaluated by cell binding competition in vitro while binding affinity was evaluated in vivo by necropsy and SPECT/CT imaging in a tumor mouse model.

Conclusion

We have identified a peptide with a sub nanomolar inhibition constant for the TAG-72 antigen that may have applications in cancer imaging.Key words: phage display, TAG-72 antigen, peptide, colon cancer tumor cell LS-174T     

Isolation, characterization, and recovery of small peptide phage display epitopes selected against viable malignant glioma cells

Phage display techniques rely on nearly random oligonucleotide sequences inserted into the protein III filament binding protein of an Escherichia coli filamentous phage M13 to generate a library of phage that express more than 10(7) different peptides. Phage that expresses a sequence having high affinity for a specific molecule, cell, or tissue can then be isolated through selective binding and recovery. Selected phage cannot only be used as gene transfer vectors in themselves, but the small peptide epitopes can be sequenced and potentially recombined into the attachment proteins of viral vectors, or used by themselves to target other therapeutic agents and diagnostic imaging radiolabels. Most phage display selections are carried out against purified and/or fixed protein targets, raising concerns as to the relevance of the selected epitopes. We have selected phage from the CMTI library against viable U87-MG human malignant glioma cells using a derivation of biopanning. The library, which initially contained phage expressing 2x10(7) different epitope sequences, collapsed after four rounds of selection such that 42% of recovered clones expressed a consensus sequence. Selective binding to viable adherent U87-MG cells was subsequently demonstrated under physiologic conditions at 167% (+/-27%) unselected phage using a novel, viable enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. In comparison, there was no difference in binding to control 9L rat gliosarcoma, PANC-1 human pancreatic adenocarcinoma, T98-MG human malignant glioma, or AST-4 human malignant glioma cells of selected compared to unselected phage. Using polymerase chain reaction, the epitope was recovered with flanking unique restriction sites for recombination into a herpes simplex virus type-1 vector. This study demonstrates and discusses optimized methodologies for using phage display to target viable cells.     

体内噬菌体展示技术筛选人髓样乳腺癌Bcap-37细胞特异性结合肽及其性质、结合效果研究

目的探讨体内噬菌体展示技术筛选的人髓样乳腺癌Bcap-37细胞特异性结合肽的性质和结合效果,为乳腺癌早期诊断提供分子靶向探针。方法制备人髓样乳腺癌Bcap-37细胞荷瘤裸鼠模型,采用噬菌体环七肽库进行3轮体内筛选。免疫组织化学法检测筛选的噬菌体在肿瘤及正常组织中的分布情况。酶联免疫吸附试验(ELISA)鉴定单克隆噬菌体对Bcap-37细胞的亲合力。提取阳性单克隆噬菌体DNA并测序,选取重复率高的序列合成多肽,制备光学分子探针,应用荧光分子成像验证合成的多肽在荷瘤小鼠体内对乳腺移植瘤的特异性和靶向性。结果第3轮体内筛选的噬菌体回收率为第1轮的107.2倍。免疫组织化学结果显示,随筛选轮次增加,肿瘤组织中结合的噬菌体依次增加;肿瘤组织结合的噬菌体多于正常组织(肺脏、骨骼肌、肝脏、肾脏),肿瘤组织切片扫描图像的吸光度(A)值均较正常组织高,差异均有统计学意义(均P<0.05)。ELISA结果显示,随机选取的50个单克隆噬菌体中,22个为阳性(亲合力≥2)。阳性单克隆噬菌体DNA测序分析后,得到4条有重复的氨基酸序列,选择重复率最高的氨基酸序列CSPLNTRFC,化学合成异硫氰酸荧光素(FITC)标记的CSPLNTRFC多肽。Bcap-37细胞荷瘤裸鼠模型体内验证实验显示,FITC-CSPLNTRFC多肽能明显富集在乳腺移植瘤组织。结论利用体内噬菌体展示技术能够筛选出可与人髓样乳腺癌Bcap-37细胞特异性结合的多肽CSPLNTRFC,有助于进行乳腺癌早期诊断的体外研究。     

噬菌体展示技术在乳腺癌靶向治疗中的应用(英文)

Phage display is a technology of gene expression and screening, it is widely used in the fields of defining antigen epitopes, signal transduction, genetic treatment, parasites research and tumor targeted therapy. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, we can obtain peptides specially associated with breast cancer by using phage display technology, and this method has great potential in early diagnosis of breast cancer and development new targeted drugs.     

A new TAG-72 cancer marker peptide identified by phage display

Radiolabeled peptides as markers of cancer targets have demonstrated their value in diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy. The 16 mer f88-4/Cys6 phage display library was applied to affinity purified TAG-72 and three consensus peptides were identified: VHHSCTKLTHCCQNWH (A2-13), GGVSCMQTSPVCENNL (A2-6) and TKRDCSAQNYGCQKAI (A2-11). The A2-13 and A2-6 phages showed the highest percent binding to LS-174T cells by flow cytometry and were 3-fold higher than a control phage, while fluorescence microscopy showed that both A2-6 and A2-13 phages bound to the LS-174T cell membrane. However, only the A2-6 phage demonstrated specificity by low binding to the TAG-72 negative cell HT-29. Furthermore, the synthesized free A2-6 peptide demonstrated specific binding to LS-174T cells by flow cytometry and by immunohistochemical staining of xenograft tumor compared to normal colon. These data indicate that the A2-6 peptide is specific for the TAG-72 cancer target.     

利用体内噬菌体展示技术筛选肝癌组织特异性结合肽

目的 筛选人源肝癌组织特异性结合短肽。方法 体外培养人源肝癌细胞株BEL-7402,建立荷瘤裸鼠模型。尾静脉注射噬菌体12肽文库至荷瘤裸鼠体内,循环20min后回收肿瘤组织中噬菌体,同时取正常对照组织进行噬菌体效价测定和免疫绀化观察。将同收的噬菌体扩增、纯化,并以此作为起始物进行下一轮筛选。经过3轮体内筛选,得到与肝癌组织或细胞特异结合的肽段。随机挑选噬菌体单克隆进行测序,分析序列㈣源性后进行体外细胞酶联免嫂吸附试验（ELISA）和体内回输实验,验证噬菌体克隆的导向性。结果 经过3轮体内筛选,瘤组织中噬菌体的回收率逐步提高,回收量随着输入量的增加迅速增加,而每轮筛选肝组织中的噬菌体回收晕始终保持在一个恒定范围,并不随输入量的增加而增加。免疫组化结果硅示,第3轮筛选后,瘤组织中的噬菌体得到高水平富集,同时其他组织的非特异性结合降至最低,肝癌细胞特异性结合最强的是A54号单克降,A67、B2号单克隆次之。B2的导向效果最好,A54次之。通过对噬菌体单克隆的序列分析,初步确定了PSS／FTT基序。结论 利用体内噬菌体展示技术,可以成功筛选到与肝癌细胞或组织特异结合的噬菌体肽。     

应用噬菌体随机肽库筛选肿瘤MUC1/Y黏蛋白结合肽

目的：探索用噬菌体随机肽库筛选可用于肿瘤导向治疗的新型小分子载体。方法：以MUC1/Y黏蛋白的胞外段蛋白（MUC1/Yex）为靶分子,用凝胶亲和法和酶联板法分别筛选十二肽噬菌体随机肽库,ELISA鉴定阳性克隆,DNA序列测定后确定MUC1/Yex结合肽的氢基酸序列;免疫组化鉴定阳性噬菌体克隆及正常及肿瘤细胞的结合能力及特异 性。结果：通过4轮筛选,共获得3种MUC1/Yex的结合肽,分别为HHWHSRSQLSWF,HLKHKNYLPPTP和GNWYRHPHYLQP,其中HXXHS表位可能在与MU1/Yex的结合中起重要作用。阳性噬菌体克隆可与肿瘤细胞系MCF7,OVCA3,而不与正常外周血淋巴细胞结合。结论：筛选获得的MUC1/Yex结合肽具有一定的亲合力和肿瘤特异性,可进一步用于肿瘤导向治疗的研究。     

Screening and Identification of a peptide specifically targeted to NCI-H1299 from a phage display peptide library

In this study, a NCI-H1299 (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, NSCLC) and a normal lung cell line (Small Airway Epithelial Cells, SAEC) were used for the subtractive screening in vitro with a phage display-12 peptide library. After three rounds of panning, there was an obvious enrichment for the phages specifically binding to the NCI-H1299 cells, and the output/input ratio of phages increased about 875-fold (from 0.4 × 10⁴ to 3.5 × 10⁶). A group of peptides being capable of binding specifically to the NCI-H1299 cells were obtained, and the affinity of these peptides to bind to the targeted cells and tissues was studied. Through a cell-based ELISA, immunocytochemical staining, immunohistochemical staining, and immunofluorescence, a M13 phage isolated and identified from the above screenings, and a synthetic peptide ZS-1 (sequence EHMALTYPFRPP) corresponded to the sequence of the surface protein of the M13 phage were demonstrated to be capable of binding to the tumor cell surfaces of NCI-H1299 and A549 cell lines and biopsy specimens, but not to normal lungs tissue samples, other different cancer cells, or nontumor surrounding lung tissues. In conclusion, the peptide ZS-1 may be a potential candidate of biomarker ligands used for targeted drug delivery in therapy of lung cancer.     

噬菌体随机12肽库筛选肝癌患者血清肿瘤标记物的初步研究

目的：从噬菌体随机多肽文库中,筛选出能与肝癌患者血清特异性结合的短肽分子.方法：采用肝癌患者血清作为配基,筛选以融合蛋白形式在丝状噬菌体M13外壳蛋白Ⅲ表达的随机12肽文库.按吸附一洗脱一扩增的淘筛过程,经3轮淘筛后,随机挑取噬菌体克隆用ELISA检测其特异性,评价分析其诊断肝癌的价值.结果：经3轮淘筛后,特异性结合的噬菌体富集增加近100倍.用.ELISA检测第3轮筛选后随机挑取的单个噬菌体克隆,其中特异性最好的3个克隆具有诊断肝癌的潜在价值.结论：噬菌体展示肽库技术,可以有效进行肝癌相关抗原肽的筛选研究,为获得特异性诊断试剂进而为肝癌的诊断提供依据.     

Identification of a met-binding peptide from a phage display library.

PURPOSE: Aberrant c-Met expression has been implicated in most types of human cancer. We are developing Met-directed imaging and therapeutic agents. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: To seek peptides that bind specifically to receptor Met, the Met-expressing cell lines S114 and SK-LMS-1 were used for biopanning with a random peptide phage display library. Competition ELISA, fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis, an internalization assay, and a cell proliferation assay were used to characterize a Met-binding peptide in vitro. To evaluate the utility of the peptide as a diagnostic agent in vivo, 125I-labeled peptide was injected i.v. into nude mice bearing s.c. xenografts of the Met-expressing and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/scatter factor-expressing SK-LMS-1/HGF, and total body scintigrams were obtained between 1 and 24 h postinjection. RESULTS: One Met-binding peptide (YLFSVHWPPLKA), designated Met-pep1, reacts with Met on the cell surface and competes with HGF/scatter factor binding to Met in a dose-dependent manner. Met-pep1 is internalized by Met-expressing cells after receptor binding. Met-pep1 inhibits human leiomyosarcoma SK-LMS-1 cell proliferation in vitro. In SK-LMS-1 mouse xenografts, tumor-associated activity was imaged as early as 1 h postinjection and remained visible in some animals as late as 24 h postinjection. CONCLUSIONS: Met-pep1 specifically interacts with Met: it is internalized by Met-expressing cells and inhibits tumor cell proliferation in vitro; it is a potential diagnostic agent for tumor imaging.     

Identification of a rhabdomyosarcoma targeting peptide by phage display with sequence similarities to the tumour lymphatic‐homing peptide LyP‐1

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children. To improve existing therapies and broaden the spectrum of cytotoxic agents that can be used in RMS treatment, we performed a phage‐display‐based screening for peptides that bind specifically to RMS cells. Two peptides binding to RMS and to other tumour cell lines, but not to normal skeletal muscle cells and fibroblasts, were isolated from phage‐displayed random peptide libraries. One peptide, named RMS‐I (CQQSNRGDRKRC) contained the integrin‐binding motif RGD and its binding was blocked by an antibody against α_vβ₃integrin, which is expressed on the RMS cell line RD. The isolation of RMS‐I confirmed the validity of our screening procedure. The second peptide, named RMS‐II (CMGNKRSAKRPC), shows sequence similarity to a previously identified peptide with tumour lymphatic specificity, LyP‐1. However, RMS‐II binds in vivo to RMS xenografts better than LyP‐1 and homes to the tumour blood and not to lymphatic vessels. Therefore, RMS‐II represents a promising peptide for the development of RMS‐specific targeting approaches. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.