Creating an artificial RNA receptor to deliver siRNA to Tumors

2014

Challenge

Development of nontoxic, tumor-targetable, potent in vivo RNA delivery systems remains an obstacle to clinical applications of RNAi therapeutics.

Advance

IRP researchers led by Xiaoyuan (Shawn) Chen, Ph.D., developed an RNAi nanoplatform containing a molecular label, Zn(II)-DPA, and a tumor-targetable/drug-loadable hyaluronic acid nanoparticle. The delivery system works to target small-molecule drugs directly to tumors. Test nanoparticles loaded with doxorubicin—a standard cancer therapy—and aimed at the target RNA of the multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene successfully suppressed tumor growth in an animal model.

Impact

The team’s design strategy offers a versatile, practical method for targeting RNA and chemotherapeutics to tumor cells and expands existing nanomaterial capabilities to further the field of drug and gene delivery.

Publications

Choi KY, Silvestre OF, Huang X, Min KH, Howard GP, Hida N, Jin AJ, Carvajal N, Lee SW, Hong JI, Chen X. (2014). Versatile RNA interference nanoplatform for systemic delivery of RNAs. ACS Nano. 8(5), 4559-70.

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