PLoS ONE (Jan 2015)

Aptamer-Dendrimer Bioconjugates for Targeted Delivery of miR-34a Expressing Plasmid and Antitumor Effects in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells.

  • Hongmei Wang,
  • Xin Zhao,
  • Caihong Guo,
  • Dunqiang Ren,
  • Yandong Zhao,
  • Wei Xiao,
  • Wenjie Jiao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139136
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 9
p. e0139136

Abstract

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Metastasis and drug resistance are major barriers for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). To explore new therapeutic options, we successfully encapsulated MicroRNA-34a (miR-34a), a potent endogenous tumor suppressor in NSCLC into S6 aptamer-conjugated dendrimer to form lung cancer-targeted gene delivery nanoparticles (PAM-Ap/pMiR-34a NPs). PAM-Ap/pMiR-34a NPs had a diameter of 100-200 nm and Zeta potential of ~30 mV at applied N/P ratio. The aptamer conjugation significantly improved cellular uptake as well as gene transfection efficiency of PAM-Ap/pMiR-34a NPs in cultured NSCLC cells. We showed that PAM-Ap/pMiR-34a NPs enhanced the regulation of targeted genes, BCL-2 and p53 in vitro. In addition, we revealed PAM-Ap/pMiR-34a NPs significantly inhibited cell growth, migration, invasion and induced apoptosis of lung cancer cells compared with non-targeted NPs. The method provided a novel therapeutic strategy for the experimental treatment of NSCLC.