Caltech-led Team Provides Proof in Humans of RNA Interference Using Targeted Nanoparticles

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)-led team of researchers and clinicians has published the first proof that a targeted nanoparticle — used as an experimental therapeutic and injected directly into a patient’s bloodstream — can traffic into tumours, deliver double-stranded small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and turn off an important cancer gene using a mechanism known as RNA interference (RNAi). Moreover, the team provided the first demonstration that this new type of therapy, infused into the bloodstream, can make its way to human tumours in a dose-dependent fashion — i.e., a higher number of nanoparticles sent into the body leads to a higher number of nanoparticles in the tumour cells