A promising therapeutic strategy has been developed at the IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori Regina Elena (Ire) against triple negative breast cancer, the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer which often affects still young patients.
The results of the study conducted by a group directed by Annamaria Biroccio, of the Translational Oncogenomics Unit, have just been published in the journal Embo Molecular Medicine.
The researchers demonstrated that the administration of a specific microRNA (miR-182-3p) to mice inhibits the telomeric protein TRF2, responsible for tumor progression, and thus blocks the progression of the disease.
The microRNA was carried by lipid nanoparticles, with a composition similar to those used for mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.
"In the near future - specifies Gennaro Ciliberto, IRE Scientific Director - this highly innovative strategy could provide an opportunity to treat those tumours, such as triple negative breast cancer, for which effective molecular target therapies are not currently available."
The study saw the participation of centers of national excellence, such as the Federico II University of Naples, the S. Andrea Hospital and the University of Trieste, and international centers such as the Cruk Cambridge Institute (UK), Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (Barcelona), University of Coimbra (Functional Genomics and RNA-based Therapeutics Laboratory), King's College London, University of Oxford (Genome Stability and Tumourigenesis Group).
The study was supported by the Airc Foundation for Cancer Research.