Emerging biotechnological strategies for non-viral antiangiogenic gene therapy

Abstract

Angiogenesis has emerged as a promising target of cancer treatment. With the development of biotechnology, major progress has been made in the exploring effective therapies on targeting tumor angiogenesis over the last 20 years. Gene therapy has attracted considerable interest by virtue of the capabilities of expressing sustained levels of therapeutic agents within cells of the patients. However, the major challenge of gene therapy is the efficient delivery of therapeutic gene to the target site. Compared with viral strategies, non-viral strategies were more acceptable by their widely recognized security and lower side effects. This paper reviews the basic biology of angiogenesis, the potential advantages of antiangiogenic gene therapy, the therapeutic genetic drugs developed through biotechnology, as well as the biotechnological strategies that enhancing non-viral gene therapy targeting to tumor angiogenesis in a more controlled manner, with great respect to RNA interference, ligand-directed vascular targeting strategies, vascular endothelial growth factor pathway and tumor associated macrophages targeting. In conclusion, antiangiogenic gene therapy holds great promise in advancing cancer therapy. Developing better non-viral biotechnological platforms will benefit antiangiogenic targeted cancer gene therapeutic methods, support their evaluation in human clinical trials and realize the actual utilization in the near future.

Targeted anti-cancer therapy: Co-delivery of VEGF siRNA and Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) via cRGD-modified lipid nanoparticles for enhanced anti-angiogenic efficacy

“…Anti-angiogenesis has received considerable recognition as a therapeutic method for managing cancer, supplementing conventional modalities such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery. This approach is based on the restriction of blood vessel formation in tumors, thus preventing their growth and metastasis [1] . This surge of interest is rooted in the crucial function that angiogenic mechanisms play in the advancement and spread of tumors.…”

“…Angiogenesis inhibitors, which primarily target VEGF, have been developed. However, these single therapies have only shown efficacy in a limited number of cancers [1] . This limitation can be attributed to the intricacies of tumor angiogenesis and the involvement of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), which acts as an upstream gene regulator with a pivotal role in the angiogenesis process [8] , [9] , [10] .…”