Lipid Nanovectors to Deliver RNA Oligonucleotides in Cancer

Abstract

The growing knowledge on the mechanisms of gene silencing and gene regulation by non-coding RNAs (ncRNA), mainly small interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA), is providing a significant boost to the development of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer. However, the design of RNA-based therapeutics is hampered by biopharmaceutical issues, thus requiring the use of suitable delivery strategies. In this regards, lipid nanovectors have been successfully investigated to deliver RNA in different forms of cancer. Compared to other biomaterials, lipids offer advantages such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, easy production, low cost, limited toxicity and immunogenicity. The possibility to formulate these materials in the form of nanovectors allows overcoming biopharmaceutical issues associated to the therapeutic use of RNA, with the possibility to target tumors. This review takes stock of the main lipid nanovectors proposed to deliver ncRNA. For each considered delivery strategy, the rational design and the most meaningful in vitro and in vivo results are reported and discussed.

Covalent Organic Frameworks: From Materials Design to Biomedical Application

“…Recent decades have witnessed a surge of explorations of biomedical applications in biosensing [ 1 ], bioimaging [ 2 , 3 ], chemotherapy [ 4 , 5 ], gene therapy [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], immunotherapy [ 10 , 11 ], photodynamic therapy (PDT) [ 12 ], photothermal therapy (PTT) [ 13 , 14 ], tissue engineering [ 15 , 16 ] and others [ 17 ]. Multifarious materials have been widely developed to achieve these objectives, including organic (liposomes [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], polymer [ 22 , 23 , 24 ], dendrimers [ 25 , 26 ], etc. ), inorganic (metals [ 27 ], metallic oxides [ 28 , 29 ], carbon [ 30 , 31 ], mesoporous silica [ 32 , 33 , 34 ], etc.)…”

In Vitro Biophysical and Biological Characterization of Lipid Nanoparticles Co-Encapsulating Oncosuppressors miR-199b-5p and miR-204-5p as Potentiators of Target Therapy in Metastatic Melanoma

“…Results confirm that the best dose to be used in both cell lines is 30 µg because of the highest p-value difference, as compared to the same concentration of LNP1 ( Figure S1B). Furthermore, we also exposed A375 cells to LNP1 or LNP4 in the presence or not of fetal bovine serum (FBS), a condition known to be able to hamper the formation of lipoplexes [29]. Results show that the presence of FBS in the culture media does not affect efficient delivery of therapeutic miRNAs to melanoma cells, as clearly demonstrated by qRT-PCR on miR-204-5p and miR-199b-5p expression levels ( Figure S2).…”

Strategies to Modulate MicroRNA Functions for the Treatment of Cancer or Organ Injury

“…In addition, advancement in organic chemistry enabled an extensive application of various lipids to construct nucleic acid carriers. Since nucleic acids including miRNAs are negatively charged, cationic lipids are frequently used to construct lipid-based nanoparticles (Campani et al, 2016). For examples, Piao et al (2012) constructed lipid-based cationic nanoparticles by mixing dimethyl dioctadecyl ammonium bromide, cholesterol, and a-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate at a molar ratio of 60:35:5 and encapsulated precursors of miR-107 with the cationic lipid nanoparticles.…”