In line with this concept, peptide ligands containing the Arginine-Glycine-Aspartate (RGD) triad, which display a strong affinity and selectivity to the alpha(V)beta(3) integrin, have been developed to target the tumor-associated cells expressing the alpha (V)beta (3) receptors. Among the validated ligands, the leader compound is the cyclic pentapeptide c[-RGDf(NMe)V-] (Cilengitide) developed by kessler et al. (J. Med. Chem., 1999, 42, 3033-3040).