RNA Interference Cancer Treatment? Delivering RNA With Tiny Sponge-Like Spheres

ScienceDaily (Feb. 27, 2012) — For the past decade, scientists have been pursuing cancer treatments based on RNA interference -- a phenomenon that offers a way to shut off malfunctioning genes with short snippets of RNA. However, one huge challenge remains: finding a way to efficiently deliver the RNA.

Most of the time, short interfering RNA (siRNA) -- the type used for RNA interference -- is quickly broken down inside the body by enzymes that defend against infection by RNA viruses.

"It's been a real struggle to try to design a delivery system that allows us to administer siRNA, especially if you want to target it to a specific part of the body," says Paula Hammond, the David H. Koch Professor in Engineering at MIT.

Hammond and her colleagues have now come up with a novel delivery vehicle in which RNA is packed into microspheres so dense that they withstand degradation until they reach their destinations. The new system, described Feb. 26 in the journal Nature Materials, knocks down expression of specific genes as effectively as existing delivery methods, but with a much smaller dose of particles.

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120227094331.htm