Wei Tao, PhD

Funded by the Courtney Cox Cole Lung Cancer Research Award

The vast majority of lung cancers fall into the category called non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the current therapies still suffer from poor outcomes and side effects. We propose a new type of therapy, called mRNA-mediated therapy, to solve these challenges. mRNA is a type of biomolecule that can be translated to functional proteins in cells and exert its corresponding functions, such as making tumor cells die and therefore shrink tumors. To achieve this goal, we will design a new type of tiny particles, called targeted nanoparticles, which can carry and deliver anti-tumor mRNA molecules to lung tumor cells in a targeting manner. We will use a delivery technique, called inhalation, to assist these mRNA-carried particles efficiently arriving in mouse lung tumor cells through the airway. We expect this new therapeutic strategy can not only improve the treatment efficacy and lower side effects for lung tumors but also might pave the way for the development of other inhaled mRNA medicine or vaccines. 

Update:

We successfully designed a new generation of dual-targeted mRNA nanoparticles, which can carry and deliver anti-tumor mRNA molecules effectively to lung cancer cells. Our mRNA nanoparticles significantly restored the expression of p53 protein in cancer cells both in the test tube and in a mouse model of lung cancer. The p53 gene is a tumor-suppressor gene that contains instructions for a protein that inhibits the development and growth of tumors. Our new platform technology may potentially pave the way for the development of new inhaled mRNA medicine for treating lung cancers, as well as inhaled mRNA cancer vaccines, if our future studies are successful.