Benitec Biopharma Ltd (BNTC)

[68-Tele]

Dirk's tweet: Benitec cancer collaborator switches to synthetic RNAi triggers and PLK1 target:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25557168


Oncotarget. 2014 Dec 20. [Epub ahead of print]
Therapeutic targeting of polo-like kinase 1 using RNA-interfering nanoparticles (iNOPs) for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.
McCarroll JA1, Dwarte T2, Baigude H3, Dang J4, Yang L2, Erlich RB1, Kimpton K2, Teo J1, Sagnella SM1, Akerfeldt MC2, Liu J5, Phillips PA6, Rana TM4, Kavallaris M1.
Author information

Abstract
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains the most common cause of cancer death worldwide due its resistance to chemotherapy and aggressive tumor growth. Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) is a serine-threonine protein kinase which is overexpressed in cancer cells, and plays a major role in regulating tumor growth. A number of PLK1 inhibitors are in clinical trial; however, poor tumor bioavailability and off-target effects limit their efficacy. Short-interfering-RNA (siRNA) holds promise as a class of therapeutics, which can selectively silence disease-causing genes. However, siRNA cannot enter cells without a delivery vehicle. Herein, we investigated whether RNAi-interfering nanoparticles could deliver siRNA to NSCLC cells and silence PLK1 expression in vitro and in vivo. iNOP-7 was non-toxic, and delivered siRNA with high efficiency to NSCLC cells. iNOP-7-PLK1 siRNA silenced PLK1 expression and reduced NSCLC growth in vitro. Notably, iNOP-7 delivered siRNA to orthotopic lung tumors in mice, and administration of iNOP-7-PLK1 siRNA reduced lung tumor burden. These novel data show that iNOP-7 can deliver siRNA against PLK1 to NSCLC cells, and decrease cell proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. iNOP-7-PLK1 siRNA may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of NSCLC as well as other cancers which aberrantly express this gene.