Lipid Nanovectors to Deliver RNA Oligonucleotides in Cancer.
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.
Department of Pharmacy, University Federico II of Naples, Via Domenico Montesano 49, 80131 Naples, Italy. virginia.campani@unina.it.
Virginia
V
Campani
Institute of Molecular Sciences, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France. giuseppina.salzano@unina.it.
Giuseppina
G
Salzano
Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and General Pathology, Second University of Naples, 80138 Naples, Italy. saralusa@libero.it.
Sara
S
Lusa
Department of Pharmacy, University Federico II of Naples, Via Domenico Montesano 49, 80131 Naples, Italy. gderosa@unina.it.
Giuseppe
G
De Rosa
cationic liposomes; lipid-nanoparticles; micelles; nucleic acid; stable nucleic acid lipid particles (SNALPs)