Development of nucleic acid delivery system using lipid nanoparticles

Abstract

Recently, as more than 1 in 3 people get cancer in their lifetime in Japan, the development of innovative anticancer drugs have been desired. We focused on small interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) as a candidate of next generation anticancer drugs because they can induce cancer cell death selectively in a sequence-dependent manner. Because these small RNAs are not stable in the body and not permeable across cell membrane, it is necessary to develop drug delivery systems. We have revealed that lipid nanoparticle-mediated delivery of small RNAs is useful for selective delivery to tumors, resulting in induction of RNA interference-mediated gene silencing in vivo.