Cancer Gene Therapy with Non-Viral Nanocarriers, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Gene and Cell Therapy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2025 | Viewed by 1597

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology, Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece
Interests: nanotechnology; liposomes; nanoemulsion; model lipid membranes; drug targeting
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Guest Editor
Department of Life and Health Sciences, School of Science and Engineering, University of Nicosia, 2417 Nicosia, Cyprus
Interests: molecular pharmacology/biology; gene therapy; clinical pharmacology; toxicology; determination of molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Life & Health Sciences, University of Nicosia, 2417 Nicosia, Cyprus
Interests: pharmaceutical technology; nanotechnology; gene delivery; liposomes, nanocarrier development and characterization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cancer is currently affecting millions of people worldwide and is considered to be one of the leading causes of death in the world. Conventional therapies for cancer treatment include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but these interventions often cause severe side effects within patients due to their lack of specificity. As a result, new therapeutic treatments are needed which have an improved efficacy and reduced toxicity. One of these potential treatments is gene therapy, which aims to deliver genetic material to cancer cells in order to reduce or eliminate a tumor or repair errors that cause cells to become cancerous in an attempt to reverse their state. Various gene therapy approaches are used for cancer treatment, including the replacement/correction of missing or defective genes to suppress tumor formation, the modulation of the immune system to recognize cancer cells, silencing of oncogenes to suppress the formation or spreading of cancer, the use of suicide genes that cause the self-destruction of cancer cells, the use of antiogenetic genes to prevent tumor blood vessels from forming and the use of genes that increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to conventional therapies or protect healthy cells from them. The successful implementation of gene therapy requires carriers that can protect the genetic material and efficiently deliver it (alone or in combination with conventional therapeutics) specifically to cancer cells. Various delivery systems have been developed and studied, including viral vectors and non-viral systems, such as lipoplexes, polyplexes and inorganic nanoparticles. Non-viral vectors present various advantages such as their safety, low cost and ability to carry larger genetic materials, and they can be designed with specific properties.

For this Special Issue of Pharmaceutics, we invite researchers to submit original research articles focused on novel gene delivery strategies for cancer treatment using non-viral nanocarriers; these may include new genes or gene/conventional therapeutics combinations delivered with non-viral nanocarriers or new non-viral nanocarriers. Review articles on the latest advancements made in the above-mentioned areas are also welcome.

Dr. Sophia Hatziantoniou
Dr. Eleftheria Galatou
Dr. Elena Mourelatou
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • nanocarriers
  • gene delivery
  • lipoplexes
  • polyplexes
  • non-viral vectors
  • cancer therapy
  • transfection

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

29 pages, 1354 KiB  
Review
Gene Therapy with Chitosan Nanoparticles: Modern Formulation Strategies for Enhancing Cancer Cell Transfection
by Varvara Antoniou, Elena A. Mourelatou, Eleftheria Galatou, Konstantinos Avgoustakis and Sophia Hatziantoniou
Pharmaceutics 2024, 16(7), 868; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics16070868 - 27 Jun 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1268
Abstract
Gene therapy involves the introduction of exogenous genetic material into host tissues to modify gene expression or cellular properties for therapeutic purposes. Initially developed to address genetic disorders, gene therapy has expanded to encompass a wide range of conditions, notably cancer. Effective delivery [...] Read more.
Gene therapy involves the introduction of exogenous genetic material into host tissues to modify gene expression or cellular properties for therapeutic purposes. Initially developed to address genetic disorders, gene therapy has expanded to encompass a wide range of conditions, notably cancer. Effective delivery of nucleic acids into target cells relies on carriers, with non-viral systems gaining prominence due to their enhanced safety profile compared to viral vectors. Chitosan, a biopolymer, is frequently utilized to fabricate nanoparticles for various biomedical applications, particularly nucleic acid delivery, with recent emphasis on targeting cancer cells. Chitosan’s positively charged amino groups enable the formation of stable nanocomplexes with nucleic acids and facilitate interaction with cell membranes, thereby promoting cellular uptake. Despite these advantages, chitosan-based nanoparticles face challenges such as poor solubility at physiological pH, non-specificity for cancer cells, and inefficient endosomal escape, limiting their transfection efficiency. To address these limitations, researchers have focused on enhancing the functionality of chitosan nanoparticles. Strategies include improving stability, enhancing targeting specificity, increasing cellular uptake efficiency, and promoting endosomal escape. This review critically evaluates recent formulation approaches within these categories, aiming to provide insights into advancing chitosan-based gene delivery systems for improved efficacy, particularly in cancer therapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cancer Gene Therapy with Non-Viral Nanocarriers, 2nd Edition)
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