Lipoproteoplex uses a lipid “container” for transfection — the transportation of material past a cell membrane — and an easy-to-make protein capsule that can bind both small-molecule chemotherapeutic drugs and genetic technology, such as short interfering RNA (siRNA), that can "silence" genes that propagate disease states.
New hybrid shows promise in dealing double blow to cancer cells by delivering both a chemotherapeutic agent and RNA Interfering Technology that Silences Drug Resistance
BROOKLYN, New York – Clinicians today have an arsenal of more than 200 drugs at their disposal for treating a range of cancers — 68 drugs were approved between 2011 and 2016 alone. But many chemotherapeutic agents pose stubborn challenges: they cause serious side effects because they kill healthy cells in addition to cancer cells; some forms of cancer develop resistance to drugs; and many such chemotherapies, being poorly water-soluble, demonstrate low bio-availability resulting in sub-optimal drug delivery to cancer cells.
A potential solution lies in the synergistic combination of a chemotherapeutic drug with engineered genetic material designed to neutralize the malevolent genes conferring resistance to that drug, among other functions.
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