Systemic Delivery of Tumor-Targeting siRNA Nanoparticles against an Oncogenic LncRNA Facilitates Effective Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), by virtue of their versatility and multilevel gene regulation, have emerged as attractive pharmacological targets for treating heterogeneous and complex malignancies like triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Despite multiple studies on lncRNA functions in tumor pathology, systemic targeting of these "undruggable" macromolecules with conventional approaches remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate effective TNBC therapy by nanoparticle-mediated RNAi of the oncogenic lncRNA DANCR, which is significantly overexpressed in TNBC. Tumor-targeting RGD-PEG-ECO/siDANCR nanoparticles were formulated via self-assembly of multifunctional amino lipid ECO, cyclic RGD peptide-PEG, and siDANCR for systemic delivery. MDA-MB-231 and BT549 cells treated with the therapeutic RGD-PEG-ECO/siDANCR nanoparticles exhibited 80-90% knockdown in the expression of DANCR for up to 7 days, indicating efficient intracellular siRNA delivery and sustained target silencing. The RGD-PEG-ECO/siDANCR nanoparticles mediated excellent in vitro therapeutic efficacy, reflected by significant reduction in the invasion, migration, survival, tumor spheroid formation, and proliferation of the TNBC cell lines. At the molecular level, functional ablation of DANCR dynamically impacted the oncogenic nexus by downregulating PRC2-mediated H3K27-trimethylation and Wnt/EMT signaling, and altering the phosphorylation profiles of several kinases in the TNBC cells. Furthermore, systemic administration of the RGD-PEG-ECO/siDANCR nanoparticles at a dose of 1 mg/kg siRNA in nude mice bearing TNBC xenografts resulted in robust suppression of TNBC progression with no overt toxic side-effects, underscoring the efficacy and safety of the nanoparticle therapy. These results demonstrate that nanoparticle-mediated modulation of onco-lncRNAs and their molecular targets is a promising approach for developing curative therapies for TNBC and other cancers.