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RNA cancer nanomedicine: nanotechnology-mediated RNA therapy

Bijan Emiliano Ferdows1, Dylan Neal Patel1, Wei Chen1

  • 1Center for Nanomedicine and Department of Anesthesiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. wchen45@bwh.harvard.edu.

Nanoscale
|January 26, 2022
PubMed

Insights

RNA therapeutics offer new cancer treatments by regulating genes. Nanoparticles protect these therapeutic RNAs from immune degradation, enabling effective delivery for cancer gene therapy and tumor suppression.

Area of Science:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Molecular Biology
  • Nanotechnology

Background:

  • RNA molecules (mRNA, siRNA, microRNA, sgRNA) regulate cancer genes.
  • Exogenous therapeutic RNAs face degradation by innate immune defenses (exonucleases, RNases).
  • Nonviral nanoparticles are crucial for delivering therapeutic RNAs in cancer gene therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review advancements in nanoparticle-mediated delivery of therapeutic RNAs for cancer therapy over the past decade.
  • To highlight various nanoparticle types used for RNA delivery and their role in tumor suppression.
  • To discuss challenges and considerations for clinical translation of these RNA-based therapies.

Main Methods:

  • Review of literature on nanoparticle-based RNA delivery systems for cancer therapy.
  • Categorization of nanoparticles into lipid, polymer, inorganic, and biomimetic materials.
  • Analysis of RNA delivery strategies and their impact on tumor suppression.

Main Results:

  • Nanoparticles effectively protect therapeutic RNAs from degradation, enhancing delivery.
  • Diverse nanoparticle platforms (lipid, polymer, inorganic, biomimetic) have been developed for RNA delivery.
  • These systems show promise in evoking tumor-suppressing responses.

Conclusions:

  • Nanoparticle-mediated delivery is a promising strategy for RNA-based cancer therapeutics.
  • Overcoming immune-mediated degradation is key to effective RNA delivery.
  • Further research and development are needed to accelerate clinical translation of nanotechnology-mediated RNA therapy.

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