Malignant glioma (MG) represent the most prevalent and lethal primary cancer of the central nervous system. Patients diagnosed with the highest grade MG, grade IV glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), survive for only 9-12 months after diagnosis despite surgical resection and aggressive treatment regimens. Multimodal approaches using radiation with conjunctive chemotherapy (temozolamlde) resulted in only margina increase in patients'survival up to 14.6 months;recurrence is nearly universal and salvage therapies for such progression remain ineffective. An incomplete understanding of how catalogued genetic aberrations dictate phenotypic hallmarks of the disease, particularly intense therapy (apoptosis) resistance, yet florid intratumoral necrogenesis, combined with a highly therapy-resistant cancer stem cell population (brain tumor stem cells, BTSC) as the putative cell-of-origin conspired to make GBM a highly enigmatic and incurable disease. This grant proposal addresses the critical challenges facing the glioma field on multiple levels: (i) To overcome toxicity, insufficient specificity and delivery of targeted therapies (e.g. (R)TK inhibitors), our efforts focus on gene silencing using novel small interfering RNA (siRNA)-conjugated gold nanoparticles (RNA-Au NPs). This alternative and highly promising new agent exhibits enhanced cellular/tissue uptake, reduced offtarget effects and improved biostability and compatibility compared to conventional molecular RNAi and other polymer and nanoconstructs. (ii) This single-entity RNAi nano-reagent will target concomitantly activated RTKs and Bcl2L12 as GBM signature lesions and functionally validated modulators of therapeutic resistance and neurologically debilitating necrogenesis. (iii) We will pre-clinically validate RTK- and Bcl2L12- targeting NPs (RTK-, L12-RNA-Au NPs) in physiologically highly relevant BTSC and derived orthotopic explant model systems, (iv) We will extend our pre-clinical validation efforts from orthotopic xenograft models to studies of tumor regression in a refined, acute onset, highly penetrant GBM mouse model to assess efficacy of RNA-Au NPs in the setting of an intact immune system and a physiologically more relevant tumor microenvironment.

Public Health Relevance

The continued lack of success in treating GBM with conventional and novel targeted therapies, proven to be effective in other malignancies, has prompted a reevaluation of all aspects of glioma drug development. Using sophisticated cancer stem cell and in vivo mouse models, we wili drive preclinical validation of gold nanoparticles functionalized with small interfering RNA (siRNA) oligonucleotides (RNA-Au NPs) towards pharmaceutical opportunities to make a significant Impact on the life of GBM patients,

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Specialized Center--Cooperative Agreements (U54)
Project #
5U54CA151880-02
Application #
8310829
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZCA1)
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2011-08-01
Budget End
2012-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$184,314
Indirect Cost
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Type
DUNS #
005436803
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60611
Hong, Bong Jin; Iscen, Aysenur; Chipre, Anthony J et al. (2018) Highly Stable, Ultrasmall Polymer-Grafted Nanobins (usPGNs) with Stimuli-Responsive Capability. J Phys Chem Lett 9:1133-1139
Zavaleta, Cristina; Ho, Dean; Chung, Eun Ji (2018) Theranostic Nanoparticles for Tracking and Monitoring Disease State. SLAS Technol 23:281-293
Sato, Kohei; Hendricks, Mark P; Palmer, Liam C et al. (2018) Peptide supramolecular materials for therapeutics. Chem Soc Rev 47:7539-7551
Rotz, Matthew W; Holbrook, Robert J; MacRenaris, Keith W et al. (2018) A Markedly Improved Synthetic Approach for the Preparation of Multifunctional Au-DNA Nanoparticle Conjugates Modified with Optical and MR Imaging Probes. Bioconjug Chem 29:3544-3549
Lilley, Laura M; Du, Kang; Krzyaniak, Matthew D et al. (2018) Effect of Magnetic Coupling on Water Proton Relaxivity in a Series of Transition Metal GdIII Complexes. Inorg Chem 57:5810-5819
Hung, Andy H; Lilley, Laura M; Hu, Fengqin et al. (2017) Magnetic barcode imaging for contrast agents. Magn Reson Med 77:970-978
Hong, Christine; Song, Dayoung; Lee, Dong-Keun et al. (2017) Reducing posttreatment relapse in cleft lip palatal expansion using an injectable estrogen-nanodiamond hydrogel. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114:E7218-E7225
Banga, Resham J; Krovi, Sai Archana; Narayan, Suguna P et al. (2017) Drug-Loaded Polymeric Spherical Nucleic Acids: Enhancing Colloidal Stability and Cellular Uptake of Polymeric Nanoparticles through DNA Surface-Functionalization. Biomacromolecules 18:483-489
Hendricks, Mark P; Sato, Kohei; Palmer, Liam C et al. (2017) Supramolecular Assembly of Peptide Amphiphiles. Acc Chem Res 50:2440-2448
Lee, Dong-Keun; Kee, Theodore; Liang, Zhangrui et al. (2017) Clinical validation of a nanodiamond-embedded thermoplastic biomaterial. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114:E9445-E9454

Showing the most recent 10 out of 223 publications