Nanomedicine for the Delivery of RNA in Cancer

Abstract

The complexity, and the diversity of the different types of cancers allied to the tendency to form metastasis make treatment efficiency so tricky and often impossible due to the advanced stage of the disease in the diagnosis. In recent years, due to tremendous scientific breakthroughs, we have witnessed exponential growth in the elucidation of mechanisms that underlie carcinogenesis and metastasis. The development of more selective therapies made it possible to improve cancer treatment. Although interdisciplinary research leads to encouraging results, scientists still have a long exploration journey. RNA technology represents a promise as a therapeutic intervention for targeted gene silencing in cancer, and there are already some RNA-based formulations in clinical trials. However, the use of RNA as a therapeutic tool presents severe limitations, mainly related to its low stability and poor cellular uptake. Thus, the use of nanomedicine employing nanoparticles to encapsulate RNA may represent a suitable platform to address the major challenges hampering its therapeutic application. In this review, we have revisited the potential of RNA and RNA-associated therapies to fight cancer, also providing, as support, a general overview of nanoplatforms for RNA delivery.

Biosynthesized nanoparticles: a novel approach for cancer therapeutics

“…They can also be functionalized to improve drug delivery efficiency ( 36 ). DNA and RNA nanoparticles are used in cancer therapy to deliver therapeutic genes directly to cancer cells, which improves the therapeutic efficacy and reduces toxicity ( 37 , 38 ). Due to their distinctive physical and chemical characteristics, biologic nanoparticles offer a great deal of potential for cancer therapy; nevertheless, further study is required to fully comprehend their modes of action and maximise their therapeutic potential.…”

Gold Nanoparticle-Mediated Gene Therapy

“…Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been analyzed in detail for decades and are the most developed alternative for a selection of medical applications, such as sensing, imaging, catalysis, therapies, diagnostics, medication, and gene delivery [ 12 , 13 ]. AuNPs have unique features that set them apart from their alternatives [ 14 ].…”

Amphiphilic Copolymer-Lipid Chimeric Nanosystems as DNA Vectors

“…have been employed for the delivery of therapeutic agents. Moreover, viral vectors are considered an effective means for the delivery of nucleic acids and have shown success in vivo and in clinical trials [6,7]. However, viral vectors are associated with serious safety issues, including acute immune response and insertional mutagenesis [4][5][6].…”

“…Although non-viral vectors are less efficient, their advantages regarding low biosafety risk, potential for large-scale production, controllable chemical structure, wide material source, multifunctionality, and no capacity limits in gene encapsulation have brought them at the forefront of gene delivery research [4][5][6][7][8].…”