Search

Background: For certain human cancers, sperm associated antigen 5 (SPAG5) exerts important functions for their development and progression. However, whether RNA interference (RNAi) targeting SPAG5 has antitumor effects has not been determined clinically. Results: The results indicated that Fe-doped chrysotile nanotubes (FeSiNTs) with a relatively uniform outer diameter (15–25 nm) and inner diameter (7–8 nm), and a length of several hundred nanometers, which delivered an siRNA against the SPAG5 oncogene (siSPAG5) efficiently. The nanomaterials were designed to prolong the half-life of siSPAG5 in blood, increase tumor cell-specific uptake, and maximize the efficiency of SPAG5 silencing. In vitro, FeSiNTs carrying siSPAG5 inhibited the growth, migration, and invasion of bladder cancer cells. In vivo, the FeSiNTs inhibited growth and metastasis in three models of bladder tumors (a tail vein injection lung metastatic model, an in-situ bladder cancer model, and a subcutaneous model) with no obvious toxicities. Mechanistically, we showed that FeSiNTs/siSPAG5 repressed PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling, which suppressed the growth and progression of tumor cells. Conclusions: The results highlight that FeSiNTs/siSPAG5 caused no activation of the innate immune response nor any systemic toxicity, indicating the possible therapeutic utility of FeSiNTs/siSPAG5 to deliver siSPAG5 to treat bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study published in the journal Clinical & Translational Medicine presents a novel risk stratification model for detecting residual tumors in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) after transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TURBT). The model is based on urinary DNA methylation and incorporates clinical features such as tumor grade, presence of multiple tumors, maximum tumor size, histologic variants, and lymphatic-vascular invasion. The study found that the model achieved high accuracy in detecting residual tumors, with a sensitivity of 95.83%. By accurately identifying high-risk patients, unnecessary re-TURBT procedures can be reduced, thereby reducing patient distress and associated costs. [Extracted from the article]

• The first report of the use of a CD71 and CD44 aptamer as a drug carrier to target and eliminate both CSCs and non-CSCs. • The first report of the use of dual-aptamer based drug delivery system to treat bladder cancer. • CD71-CD44-GEMs exerted obvious anticancer effect in three types of tumor xenograft mice models. • CD71-CD44-GEMs showed excellent biosafety in three types of tumor xenograft mice models. Conventional chemotherapy lacks the ability to specifically target cancer cells, thus although it eliminates tumor tissues to some extent, it also damages normal tissues and organs. Meanwhile, cancer stem cells (CSCs)-induced tumor regrowth and drug resistance limits the application of some chemotherapy drugs. In this study, the CD71/CD44 dual-aptamer-gemcitabine (CD71-CD44-GEMs) conjugate was designed to treat bladder cancer through the co-targeting by CD71 of bladder cancer cells and by CD44 of bladder CSCs. A series of studies were used to evaluate the binding specificity and the in vitro and in vivo anti-cancer effects. We observed that CD71-CD44-GEMs selectively bound to and exerted a high inhibitory effect on bladder cancer in vitro and in vivo. Besides, CD71-CD44-GEMs can inhibit the formation of the tumorsphere and demonstrated a higher binding affinity and inhibitory efficacy than CD71-GEMs or CD44-GEMs (GEM delivered by a single target aptamer) in bladder cancer. Hence, CD71-CD44-GEMs represents a promising approach to treating bladder cancer for its high efficacy in drug delivery and ability to eliminate both bladder cancer cells and CSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]