Chen Yunching, Gao Dong-Yu, Huang Leaf
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, ROC.
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, ROC.
Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2015 Jan;81:128-41. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2014.05.009. Epub 2014 May 22.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs, can regulate post-transcriptional gene expressions and silence a broad set of target genes. miRNAs, aberrantly expressed in cancer cells, play an important role in modulating gene expressions, thereby regulating downstream signaling pathways and affecting cancer formation and progression. Oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes regulated by miRNAs mediate cell cycle progression, metabolism, cell death, angiogenesis, metastasis and immunosuppression in cancer. Recently, miRNAs have emerged as therapeutic targets or tools and biomarkers for diagnosis and therapy monitoring in cancer. Since miRNAs can regulate multiple cancer-related genes simultaneously, using miRNAs as a therapeutic approach plays an important role in cancer therapy. However, one of the major challenges of miRNA-based cancer therapy is to achieve specific, efficient and safe systemic delivery of therapeutic miRNAs in vivo. This review discusses the key challenges to the development of the carriers for miRNA-based therapy and explores current strategies to systemically deliver miRNAs to cancer without induction of toxicity.
微小RNA（miRNA）是一类小的非编码RNA，可调控转录后基因表达并使大量靶基因沉默。miRNA在癌细胞中异常表达，在调节基因表达中起重要作用，从而调控下游信号通路并影响癌症的形成和进展。受miRNA调控的癌基因或肿瘤抑制基因介导癌症中的细胞周期进程、代谢、细胞死亡、血管生成、转移和免疫抑制。最近，miRNA已成为癌症诊断和治疗监测的治疗靶点、工具及生物标志物。由于miRNA可同时调控多个癌症相关基因，将miRNA用作一种治疗方法在癌症治疗中发挥着重要作用。然而，基于miRNA的癌症治疗的主要挑战之一是在体内实现治疗性miRNA的特异性、高效和安全的全身递送。本文综述讨论了基于miRNA治疗的载体开发面临的关键挑战，并探讨了在不诱导毒性的情况下将miRNA全身递送至癌症部位的当前策略。
