Research on mRNA delivery based on VIS-50-NIR desktop photoacoustic platform

One major challenge in miRNA-based therapy is to explore facile delivery strategies, which can facilitate the fast and precise accumulation of intrinsically instable

microRNAs (miRNAs) at targeted tumor sites. To address this critical issue, for the first time we demonstrate that a near-infrared (NIR) pulse laser can guide efficient

delivery of miRNAs mediated by a NIR-absorbing semiconducting polymer (SP) nanocarrier, which can generate photoacoustic (PA) radiation force to intravascularly

overcome the endothelial barriers. Importantly, we demonstrate an ultrafast delivery of miRNA (miR-7) to tumor tissues under the irradiation of pulse laser in 20 min,

showing a 5-fold boosted efficiency in comparison to the traditional passive targeting strategy. The delivered miR-7 acts as a sensitizer of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and synergizes with TRAIL inducing compound (TIC), leading to sustained TRAIL upregulation for effective tumor suppression

in mice. As such, our results indicate that the pulse laser-mediated nanocarrier platform can significantly enhance the targeted delivery efficiency of therapeutic miRNAs

to tumors, resulting in potent gene-chemo cancer therapy.

Source: Tianyi Kang, JenShyang Ni, Tingting Li, Jun Wang, Zeshun Li, Yaxi Li, Menglei Zha, Chen Zhang, Xue Wu, Heng Guo, Lei Xi, Kai Li, Efficient and Precise Delivery of MicroRNA by Photoacoustic Force Generated from Semiconducting Polymer-Based Nanocarriers, Biomaterials, 275: 120907, 2021.