Talk abstracts
Talk on Saturday 11:45-12:00pm submitted by Hui Li
RNA as a unique polymer to build functional nanostructures for material and biomedical applications
Hui Li (Nanobiotechnology Center, Markey Cancer Center, and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536), Peixuan Guo (Nanobiotechnology Center, Markey Cancer Center, and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536)
Abstract:
RNA is a "polynucleic acid", but its polymeric nature in material and technological applications is often overlooked. However, similar to other biopolymer such as DNA, protein, and polysaccharide, RNA not only plays a critic role in the biological functioning of both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, but also has intriguing characteristics at the nanometer scale. Recently, we reported the finding that RNA can serve as a unique polymer for the construction of boiling-resistant nanostructures with applications in medicine, immunology, cancer therapeutics, material sciences, single molecule optics, electronics and computer devices. Our platform is based on the packaging RNA (pRNA) of bacteriophage phi29 DNA packaging motor. The pRNA is a versatile molecule for constructing multivalent 3D architectures with diverse sizes and shapes via loop-loop interactions, palindrome sequences, and three-way junction motif modulating. These chemically-modified RNA nanoparticles are thermodynamically stable, resistant to RNase degradation, and can harbor different functionalities, such as siRNA, ribozymes and aptamers. Upon systemic injection, these RNA nanoparticles targeted a variety of cancer xenografts and metastases in vivo with little accumulation in healthy vital organs and tissues. RNA nanoparticles tested in vivo revealed that they did not induce cytokines, interferon, antibody, and toxicity; and retained favorable pharmacokinetics and biodistribution profiles.
References:
1. Li H, Lee T; Dziubla T; Pi F; Guo S; Xu J; Li C; Haque F; Liang XJ; Guo P. RNA as a Stable Polymer to Build Controllable and Defined Nanostructures for Material and Biomedical Applications. Nano Today. 2015. Accepted.
2. Shu D, Shu Y, Haque F, Abdelmawla S, Guo P. Thermodynamically stable RNA three-way junction as a platform for constructing multifunctional nanoparticles for delivery of therapeutics. Nature Nanotechnology. 2011, 6:658-67.
3. Guo P. The emerging field of RNA nanotechnology. Nature Nanotechnology. 2010, 5:833-42.
4. Guo P, Zhang C, Chen C, Garver K, Trottier M and Chen C. Inter-RNA Interaction of phage phi29 pRNA to Form a Hexameric Complex for DNA Transportation. Mol. Cell. 1998, 2:149-155.
Keywords: RNA Nanotechnology, Bacteriophage Phi29 pRNA, RNA Nanoparticles