Local administration of siRNA through Microneedle: Optimization, Bio-distribution, Tumor Suppression and Toxicity

Although RNA interference may become a novel therapeutic approach for cancer treatment, target-site accumulation of siRNA to achieve therapeutic dosage will be a major problem. Microneedle represents a better way to deliver siRNAs and we have evaluated for the first time the capability of a silicon microneedle array for delivery of Gapdh siRNA to the skin in vivo and the results showed that the microneedle arrays could effectively deliver siRNA to relevant regions of the skin noninvasively. For the further study in this field, we evaluated the efficacy of the injectable microneedle device for local delivery of siRNA to the mouse xenograft. The results presented here indicate that local administration of siRNA through injectable microneedle could effectively deliver siRNA into the tumor region, and inhibit tumor progression without major adverse effects.