Multifunctional Nanodelivery Platform for Maximizing Nucleic Acids Combination Therapy

In vivo senescence imaging nanoprobe targets the associated reactive oxygen species

Cellular senescence, a cell-cycle arrest state upon stress or damage, can adversely impact aging and cancers. We have designed a novel near infrared fluorogenic nanoprobe, named D3, which can only be turned on by highly elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), critical players for the induction and maintenance of senescence, for real-time senescence sensing and imaging. In contrast to glowing senescent cells, non-senescent cells whose ROS levels are too low to activate the D3 signal remain optically silent. Upon systemic injection into senescent tumor-bearing mice, the D3 nanoprobe quickly accumulates in tumors, and its fluorescence signal is turned on specifically by senescence-associated ROS in the senescent tumors. The fluorescence signal at senescent tumors was 3-fold higher than that of non-senescent tumors. This groundbreaking design introduces a novel activation mechanism and a powerful imaging nanoprobe to identify and assess cellular senescence in living organisms.

RHAMMB-mediated bifunctional nanotherapy targeting Bcl-xL and mitochondria for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor treatment

The incidence of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET) has continued to rise. Due to their indolent feature, PNET patients often present with incurable, metastatic diseases. Novel therapies are urgently needed. We have previously shown that Receptor for Hyaluronic Acid-Mediated Motility isoform B (RHAMM^B) and Bcl-xL are upregulated in PNETs and both of them promote PNET metastasis. Because RHAMM protein is undetectable in most adult tissues, we hypothesized that RHAMM^B could be a gateway for nanomedicine delivery into PNETs. To test this, we developed a RHAMM^B-targeting nanoparticle (NP). Inside this NP, we assembled small interfering RNA (siRNA) against Bcl-xL (siBcl-xL) and mitochondria-fusing peptide KLA. We demonstrated that RHAMM^B-positive PNETs picked up the RHAMM^B-targeting NPs. siBcl-xL or KLA alone killed only 30% of PNET cells. In contrast, a synergistic killing effect was achieved with the co-delivery of siBcl-xL and KLA peptide in vitro. Unexpectedly, siBcl-xL induced cell death before reducing Bcl-xL protein levels. The systemically injected RHAMM^B-targeting NPs carrying siBcl-xL and KLA peptide significantly reduced tumor burden in mice bearing RHAMM^B-positive PNETs. Together, these findings indicate that the RHAMM^B-targeting nanotherapy serves as a promising drug delivery system for PNET and possibly other malignancies with upregulated RHAMM^B. The combination of siBcl-xL and KLA peptide can be a therapy for PNET treatment.

Emerging Roles for Noncoding RNAs in Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is one of the most frequent autoimmune disorders. However, the pathogenesis of AITD has not been fully elucidated. Recently, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that abnormal expression of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) is closely related to the etiopathogenesis of AITD. microRNAs (miRNAs), long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs) are 3 major groups of ncRNAs that are attracting increasing attention. Herein, we summarized our present knowledge on the role of miRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs in AITD. This review focused on the importance of ncRNAs in development of the most prevalent AITD, such as Hashimoto disease and Graves' diseases. Altogether, the main purpose of this review is to provide new insights in the pathogenesis of AITD and the possibility of developing novel potential therapeutic targets.