RNA nanoparticle therapy stops the spread of incurable bone marrow cancer, study finds
medicalxpress.com
Multiple myeloma is an incurable bone marrow cancer that kills over 100,000 people every year. Known for its quick and deadly spread, this disease is one of the most challenging to address. As these cancer cells move through different parts of the body, they mutate, outpacing possible treatments. People diagnosed with severe multiple myeloma that is resistant to chemotherapy typically survive for only three to six months. Innovative therapies are desperately needed to prevent the spread of this disease and provide a fighting chance for those who suffer from it.

This article describes using lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) containing silencing RNA (siRNA) to slow or prevent the spread of cancerous multiple myeloma cells through the body.

What I found interesting about this approach is that these LNPs do not target the cancerous cells themselves, but rather targets healthy endothelial cells lining blood vessels in the body. The mechanism of action is to reduce the expression of a protein (CyPA) that cancer cells use to aid their spread through the body. So, these LNPs are simply used to help contain and localize the cancerous growth while traditional cancer treatments are used to treat the malignant cells.

A significant challenge for this approach going forward is tuning the targeting and biodistribution of the LNPs. Most LNP treatments end up in either the liver or spleen where they transfect cells in those organs and express protiens. I don’t have direct experience with siRNA molecules, but transfecting epithelial cells in a lasting way could prove difficult as it scales up from mouse models.

doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2215711120