Abstract
TP53 is the most frequently mutated or deleted gene in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Both the loss of TP53 and the lack of targeted therapy are significantly correlated with poor clinical outcomes, making TNBC the only type of breast cancer that has no approved targeted therapies. Through in silico analysis, we identified POLR2A in the TP53-neighbouring region as a collateral vulnerability target in TNBC tumours, suggesting that its inhibition via small interfering RNA (siRNA) may be an amenable approach for TNBC targeted treatment. To enhance bioavailability and improve endo/lysosomal escape of siRNA, we designed pH-activated nanoparticles for augmented cytosolic delivery of POLR2A siRNA (siPol2). Suppression of POLR2A expression with the siPol2-laden nanoparticles leads to enhanced growth reduction of tumours characterized by hemizygous POLR2A loss. These results demonstrate the potential of the pH-responsive nanoparticle and the precise POLR2A targeted therapy in TNBC harbouring the common TP53 genomic alteration.
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Data availability
All data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.
Change history
17 January 2020
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
05 March 2019
The Supplementary Information originally published with this Article was an older version, in which ‘IFN-γ’ was misspelled ‘INF-γ’ in Supplementary Fig. 9 and the β-Actin blot in Supplementary Fig. 13 was the wrong image. The Supplementary Information has now been replaced.
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Acknowledgements
This work was partially supported by grants from the American Cancer Society (ACS #120936-RSG-11-109-01-CDD) and NIH (R01CA206366) to X.H. and X.L., the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer Research to X.L., a Pelotonia post-doctoral fellowship to J.X. and the American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant to Y. Liu.
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X.H. and X.L. conceived the project and supervised the study. X.H., X.L., J.X. and Y. Liu designed experiments. J.X. and Y. Liu conducted experiments with assistance from Y. Li, H.W., K.V.D.J., P.A., S.L. and J.W. X.H., X.L., J.X., Y. Liu, S.S., Y. Li, K.V.D.J., Y.Z. and G.Z. analysed data. J.X. and Y. Liu wrote the manuscript draft. X.H., X.L. and S.S. edited the manuscript. All authors approved the manuscript.
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X.H. and X.L. have applied for patents related to this study.
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Journal peer review information: Nature Nanotechnology thanks Elsa Flores, Peixuan Guo and other anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Supplementary Figures 1–13, Supplementary notes 1,2, Supplementary references
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Xu, J., Liu, Y., Li, Y. et al. Precise targeting of POLR2A as a therapeutic strategy for human triple negative breast cancer. Nat. Nanotechnol. 14, 388–397 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-019-0381-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-019-0381-6
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