Wednesday, June 18, 2014

New PolySciTech Product mPEG-PEI copolymer for DNA/RNA delivery as cancer therapy

PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) has just launched a new product mPEG-PEI (Polyvivo AK86) for use as a delivery vehicle for nucleic acids including DNA, siRNA, mRNA, and miRNA.  Recently this type of polymer was utilized to deliver siRNA to prostate cancer cells as a therapeutic method to knockdown EZH2 gene expression which is responsible for prostate cancer progression. Read more: Wu, Yinxia, Junjie Yu, Yongbiao Liu, Lin Yuan, Hang Yan, Jing Jing, and Guoping Xu. "Delivery of EZH2-shRNA with mPEG-PEI nanoparticles for the treatment of prostate cancer in vitro." International journal of molecular medicine 33, no. 6 (2014): 1563-1569. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/sp/ijmm/2014/00000033/00000006/art00023

“Abstract: Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a promising therapeutic approach for castration-resistant prostate cancer (PCa). For the clinical application of siRNA, it is vital to find a safe and efficient gene transfer vector. Nanotechnology can provide a crucial advantage in developing strategies for cancer management and treatment by helping to improve the safety and efficacy of new therapeutic delivery vehicles. In this study, we describe a novel nanoparticle (mPEG-PEI) as an efficient non-viral carrier and found that this copolymer displayed enhanced efficiency in the shRNA-mediated knockdown of target genes. The enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is often elevated in castration-resistant PCa and has been implicated in the progression of human PCa. Targeting EZH2 may have therapeutic efficacy for the treatment of metastatic, hormone-refractory PCa. mPEG-PEI binds plasmid DNA yielding nanoparticles and these complexes exhibit low cytotoxicity and high gene transfection efficiency. Taken together, mPEG-PEI may be a promising non-viral gene carrier for the delivery of EZH2 short hairpin (sh)RNA to PC3 cells for advanced PCa therapy.”

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