Modified gold-based siRNA nanotherapeutics for targeted therapy of triple-negative breast cancer.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to therapeutically target eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase (eEF-2K) in an in vivo triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumor model.

Methods: We synthesized a highly monodisperse nanoformulation using polyethylenimine-modified gold nanoparticles (AuNP-PEI) as siRNA delivery vehicle and evaluated gene downregulation.

Results: We found that AuNP-PEI/eEF-2K nanoformulation was highly effective for in vitro and in vivo gene downregulation and showed remarkable antitumor efficacy that was associated with eEF-2K knockdown, inhibition of Src and MAPK-ERK signaling pathways in a TNBC orthotopic tumor model.

Conclusions: Our study suggests that eEF-2K plays an important role in TNBC tumorigenesis and its inhibition by AuNP-PEI/eEF-2K siRNA-based nanotherapeutics may be a potential therapeutic strategy for TNBC.