Chitosan-based, nanoparticle gene-silencing system blocks production of protein involved in formation of ovarian cancer cell tumor

Posted On: August 17, 2010

A protein associated with cancer progression when abundant inside of tumors also unexpectedly regulates the creation of new blood vessels that feed the tumor outside, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in the August edition of Cancer Cell.

Using a chitosan-based, nanoparticle gene-silencing system to block production of the protein, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center inhibited formation of new blood vessel (angiogenesis) to the tumor and caused a steep reduction in tumor burden in a mouse model of ovarian cancer.

Study senior author Anil Sood, M.D., professor in UT MD Anderson’s departments of Gynecologic Oncology and Cancer Biology and co-author Gabriel Lopez-Berestein, M.D., professor in UT MD Anderson’s Department of Experimental Therapeutics, have developed delivery systems that package siRNA with a fatty ball called a liposome to silence specific genes in cancer cells.

“Those systems are quite effective for delivery to tumors and tumor cells but not as effective for delivery to tumor vasculature,” Sood said. They jointly developed a new delivery system that packages siRNA into chitosan nanoparticles. Chitosan is derived from a chitin, a structural component in the shells of crustaceans.

Chitosan nanoparticles carry a slight positive electrical charge, making them attractive to the mostly negatively charged endothelial cells. The nanoparticles penetrate the tumor by way of its vasculature, so the new system hits both targets.

The nanoparticles accumulate in the cancer cell and vasculature passively as they circulate in the blood stream. Chitosan nanoparticles are so small that they can flow through tiny holes in the tumor vasculature. They also accumulate in other organs, so the researchers are working to add a targeting molecule that will limit nanoparticle uptake to tumors and their vasculature.

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From Issue 11 • Categories: Tags: Aquapreneur, biomaterials, chitin, chitosan, functional ingredients, marine ingredient, marine ingredients, nanoparticle, pharmaceutical, seafood byproducts • No Comments