Potential future treatment for breast cancer: Nanoparticles
In the study carried out by researchers from Koç University and Sabancı University, including Özlem Ünal, Devrim Gözüaçık, Yunus Akkoç, the potential use of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) conjugated with argonaute 2 (AGO2) protein in targeted cancer therapy was investigated.
These nanoparticles selectively delivered an effective amount of the microRNA into HER2-positive breast cancer cell lines in vitro and in a xenograft nude mice model of breast cancer in vivo, and successfully blocked autophagy. Furthermore, combination of the chemotherapy agent cisplatin with MIR376B-loaded nanoparticles increased the efficacy of the anti-cancer treatment both in vitro in cells and in vivo in the nude mice.
With this study AGO2 protein conjugated SPIONs are proposed as a new class of nanoparticles and showed to be used efficiently as innovative, non-cationic, non-toxic gene therapy tools for targeted therapy of cancer.
Study Details: Ozlem Unal, et al. Treatment of breast cancer with autophagy inhibitory microRNAs carried by AGO2-conjugated. J Nanobiotechnology. 2020 Apr 28;18(1):65. doi: 10.1186/s12951-020-00615-4.